Join Us

FOURTEEN is currently seeking applications for tenancy.

Marketing Executive

We are looking for a marketing executive to manage all aspects of Chambers’ marketing activities, under the guidance of the Chambers Manager and Senior Clerk. This is a full-time role of 40 hours a week, although open to discussing part-time hours. There will be some work outside normal working hours to accommodate events. This role requires you to be present in Chambers for your working hours.

Key Responsibilities:

Events – organising invitations, activities and managing diaries
Lunches – organising bookings and managing diaries
Charities – organising raffle prizes and sponsorships
LinkedIn/X – generating news and publishing on social media
Website updating
PR – placing articles or speakers
Business Development plans – generating for each barrister and actioning plans
Podcasts
Christmas dinner
Christmas gifting
In-house events – organising forum, socials, pool invites, meetings
Annual/Bi-Annual Public Law Quiz
Directories – publishing new logos; quotes; news; updating directory admin site content; and collating submissions
Conference Rooms – ensuring teas and coffees are set up
Brand ambassador – ensuring consistent use of the FOURTEEN brand and making product orders as required
Producing a monthly report on all Business Development activities by anyone within chambers (check diaries and keep in touch with members on events they attend independently)
As and when general admin support – e.g. pupillage recruitment, finance possibly

Please apply by sending your CV to jclarke@fourteen.co.uk by the deadline of 16th December 2024.

Tenancy

FOURTEEN is currently seeking applications for tenancy from barristers of over five years’ call to join our busy and successful practice teams in public law, private children, family finance, and international family law. We also have a team of experienced dispute-resolution practitioners offering arbitrations, private FDRs and Early Neutral Evaluations for financial remedy matters and private law children cases.

If you would like to arrange a confidential discussion about the opportunity to join FOURTEEN, please contact our Executive Consultant, Robin Jackson, by phone on 020 7242 0858 or by email at rjackson@fourteen.co.uk , or email:

Private Law team leader: Michael Glaser KC at mglaserkc@fourteen.co.uk;

Public Law team leader: Ranjit Singh at rsingh@fourteen.co.uk;

We are also welcoming applications from probationary tenants (formerly referred to as third-six pupils). Please contact Grace Garrett-Sadler at ggarrett-sadler@fourteen.co.uk who will be pleased to discuss the application process with you.

Pupillage

Vacancies for pupillage at FOURTEEN commencing in October 2026 are advertised on the Pupillage Gateway. It is possible to browse available pupillage vacancies from 25th November 2024 and to submit an application between 2nd January and 6th February 2025. For further information on the Pupillage Gateway, please see here.

We are recruiting up to two pupils to commence pupillage in October 2026. Because pupils at FOURTEEN are not in competition with each other for tenancy, we fully expect all pupils who meet the required standard to become Members of Chambers at the successful completion of their pupillage.

Why Us?

FOURTEEN is a leading specialist family law set with a national reputation.  We undertake high quality work for a wide client base, which includes private client and legal aid solicitors, large city firms and local authorities.  We have occupied a prominent position in the London legal market for many years.

We have consistently been recognised as a leading family law set in the legal directories.  The Chambers UK Bar directory describes FOURTEEN as “a respected set with substantial strength in both children and matrimonial finance proceedings. Barristers here frequently appear in cases with multi-jurisdictional elements, and regularly handle matters of great complexity involving issues such as trusts, offshore accounts, and allegations of abuse. Both public and private law work is undertaken for a wide range of clients, some of whom are high net worth. Commentators note: “Every member of FOURTEEN is a stand-alone expert. They often work together sharing ideas and knowledge, so no matter who we instruct we are in safe hands.” The Legal 500 describes FOURTEEN as a ‘boutique’ ‘go to set’ with ‘a strong choice of barristers advising exclusively on family law’.

We have a strong list of ranked juniors with experience at every level.

We have dedicated practice teams for children, family finance, Court of Protection and international family law.  Many of our members are public-access qualified and some undertake mediation and arbitration.

Pupillage at FOURTEEN is fulfilling and fun whilst preparing you for a life at the Family Bar.  We offer two 12-month pupillages each year.  Our pupils have the opportunity to see all areas of family law, with supervisors allocated to ensure pupils gain experience across a range of financial remedies, public and private children work.  Each pupil will have three pupil supervisors during their year and will be expected to accompany other members of Chambers to court on a regular basis.

FOURTEEN provides pupils with comprehensive training before starting on their feet in the second six months.  This includes advocacy exercises, drafting and legal research. Because pupils at FOURTEEN are not in competition with each other for tenancy, we fully expect all to become Members of Chambers if they successfully complete pupillage to the required standard.

The pupillage award is £40,000 per year for pupils starting in October 2026, paid monthly in equal instalments. In addition, pupils also retain all fees earned during the practising period of pupillage – second-six pupils can expect to be on their feet regularly.  We also fund any training a pupil has to undertake and reasonable costs of travel outside Zone 6 where a pupil is attending with a Member of Chambers.  We also pay pupils’ subscription to the FLBA and the costs of networking events with the FLBA and YRes. Pupils may, if they wish, draw down up to £15,000 of the award at any point from the start of pupillage.  Applications for partial drawdown in the year prior to pupillage will be considered.

Pupillage Testimonials

Tatiana Rocha, tenant and former pupil:

Pupillage at FOURTEEN was both rewarding and demanding in equal measure. I was provided with a nurturing environment and no end of support, whilst being challenged and encouraged to work to the best of my ability. I truly saw all levels of work in diverse areas of family law, and was afforded the unique opportunity of being supervised by a silk. During second six, the clerks worked closely with me to build my practice and ensured I was kept very busy! The support of members of chambers, and particularly the mentor assigned to me for the duration of the year, allowed me to comfortably take this challenge in my stride.

Who Should Apply?

We are looking for exceptional candidates who are committed to a career at the family bar. You should be able to demonstrate a high level of motivation and academic ability and have excellent communication and interpersonal skills. In general, successful applicants have at least a 2.1 degree, however we do consider extenuating circumstances and candidates who can demonstrate academic excellence through other relevant experience. We welcome and encourage candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds.

What to expect from the pupillage selection process

The recruitment process for pupils has three stages:

Consideration of application forms
First round interview
Second round interview

Consideration of application forms

Application forms are marked on the following criteria:

Intellectual achievement
- We look for a good record of achievement in your degree and, where applicable, GDL.
- We have no preference as between a law degree or the GDL.
- We anonymise university and school names before marking. These are not taken into consideration.
- We do not usually place weight on A-level results unless we need to look at these where, for example, there have been extenuating circumstances relating to your main qualifications.
- We do take extenuating circumstances into account and where applicable will look for other evidence of intellectual achievement within your application form.
Advocacy experience
- We would expect at least some advocacy experience, which may be from a range of sources such as mooting, debating, mock trials, FRU volunteering, etc (the list is not exhaustive).
Commitment and insight into the Family Bar
- We want to see that you have taken the time to understand what a career at the Bar, and specifically the Family Bar involves.
- We would like applicants to have a good understanding of the positives and negatives of the role of a family barrister, and be able to demonstrate that they are motivated towards this specific career.
- We would like to see that you have genuine enthusiasm for and interest in family law.
- A good indicator of your interest and understanding is often having undertaken work experience which is applicable to family law. This might include relevant employment, mini-pupillages, marshalling, or volunteering. We understand that some of these will have been harder to access over the course of the pandemic, so we are bearing this in mind.
Work ethic and diligence
- We look for evidence that you can work well under pressure, whether that is under time pressure or in other challenging situations, and whether you can be resilient and self-motivated. Evidence for this could come from a range of sources, such as extra-curricular activities, employment, or voluntary work.
Written communication
- We are looking for a good standard of written communication in your application, which should be clearly expressed and free of errors.

Above all, we are looking for applicants not just to tell us what skills they have, but to back this up with reference to their experiences and achievements so far.

First round interviews

The first-round interview typically lasts 15-20 minutes and involves an advocacy exercise and questions based around our interview selection criteria, which are:

Advocacy
Analytical thinking
Commitment and insight into the Family Bar
Communication and interpersonal skills
Work ethic and diligence

Second round interviews

The second-round interview typically lasts 25-30 minutes and may also involve an advocacy exercise, questions based around our selection criteria as set out above, and discussion of your application form.

We recognise that candidates may be at different stages of their legal training and as such our advocacy exercises will not expect you to have detailed knowledge of a particular area of law. A piece of legislation may be provided or candidates may be asked to form persuasive arguments from general principles.

Mini Pupillage

We are now recommencing our mini pupillage scheme.

A) Application information

We have four mini-pupillage periods each year, hosting three mini-pupils on each occasion. The mini-pupillages will be offered for a period of three days.
For a mini pupillage in May 2024, please apply by 29 March 2024.
For a mini pupillage in July 2024, please apply by 31 May 2024.
For a mini pupillage in September 2024, please apply by 31 July 2024.
For a mini pupillage in November 2024, please apply by 30 September 2024.
In special circumstances, Chambers will endeavour to accommodate mini-pupils on other dates.
The application will consist of:
- A 500 word essay (more details below);
- A short cover letter (no more than one side of A4);
- A copy of your Curriculum Vitae.
All applications must be sent by email to minipupillage@fourteen.co.uk

B) Application process

The Essay

“Identify a Law that you would change. In no more than 500 words please explain why and how you would change it?”
The essay will be marked using the following criteria:
- Task achievement /10
- Coherence and cohesion /10
- Lexical resources /10
- Grammatical range and accuracy /10
- Persuasiveness of argument /10 Total /50
Chambers will retain a copy of the essay for no more than 12 months. A record of the mark awarded will be kept for no more than for 5 years after the application. Applicants’ attention is drawn to the fact that Chambers may consider the contents of any mini-pupillage application in respect of any future application for pupillage with FOURTEEN.

Cover Letter and CV

The cover letter should be no more than one side of A4. It is simply to serve as a brief introduction and to explain why you wish to apply to Chambers.
Your CV should be no more than two sides of A4.

C) Feedback

At the end of your mini-pupillage you will be asked to provide feedback of your experience with Chambers. This will be by way of a questionnaire which will be retained for the purpose of collecting data to enable Chambers to improve the service that we offer.
At the end of your mini-pupillage, the Members of Chambers that you have followed will be asked to provide feedback in respect of your performance as a mini-pupil.
Applicants’ attention is drawn to the fact that Chambers may consider the contents of the feedback arising from any mini-pupillage with Chambers in respect of any future application for pupillage with FOURTEEN.