Pupillage

Landmark Chambers is a leading specialist set based in London, with a market-leading practice in planning, property, environmental, public and administrative, and rating and valuation law.

The Chambers acts on significant and complex disputes involving both private and public law. Its work includes major litigation, planning and infrastructure projects, environmental disputes, property disputes, public law challenges and rating and valuation matters.

Landmark's specialist practice areas often overlap. This gives pupils the opportunity to see how different areas of law interact and to work with barristers dealing with a wide range of legal and commercial issues.

The Pupillage

Landmark offers up to three 12-month London-based pupillages each year. One is a property pupillage, while up to two are available for candidates with a particular interest in at least one of the Chambers' other practice areas.

The pupillage is divided into four three-month seats.

During the first three seats, pupils gain experience across Landmark's complementary areas of practice. The aim is to give pupils a broad understanding of the work undertaken by the Chambers rather than requiring them to specialise at the beginning of their pupillage.

For the fourth seat, pupils are given an opportunity to express a preference for the practice area in which they would like to receive further training. A pupil recruited specifically for the property pupillage will normally be encouraged to undertake the fourth seat with a member of the Property Team.

Pupils are encouraged to work for a cross-section of members throughout the year. Silks may also act as satellite supervisors on more complex matters, giving pupils exposure to work at different levels of seniority.

Real Legal Work and Advocacy

Landmark's pupillage is designed to provide practical experience alongside structured training.

During the second six, pupils are given opportunities to appear in court on their own account, usually in the County Court or First-tier Tribunal. This provides pupils with an opportunity to develop advocacy skills while dealing with real cases.

Pupils receive regular feedback from their supervisors. Formal feedback sessions take place at the end of the first and third seats with the Chair and Secretaries of the Pupillage Committee.

The pupillage also includes three written assessments and one oral advocacy assessment. Pupils receive feedback on these assessments as part of the wider training and development process.

Practice Areas

Landmark's principal areas of expertise include:

Planning: Planning litigation and advisory work, including major development and infrastructure projects.

Property: Property disputes and advisory work, including complex commercial and real property matters.

Environment: Environmental law and litigation, including disputes connected with development, infrastructure and environmental regulation.

Public and Administrative Law: Judicial review, statutory challenges and other public law disputes.

Rating and Valuation: Rating and valuation disputes and related specialist advisory work.

Local Government: Legal issues affecting local authorities and public bodies.

The Chambers' practices frequently overlap. A property dispute may involve public law or planning issues, while major infrastructure projects can raise planning, environmental, compulsory purchase, property and public law questions.

What Landmark Looks For

Landmark assesses candidates across a range of attributes rather than relying exclusively on academic results.

Academic ability is important, but it forms only one part of the assessment. Chambers also looks for evidence of:

• Motivation and commitment to a career at the Bar.

• Strong oral and written advocacy.

• Analytical ability and sound decision-making.

• Determination and resilience.

• The ability to identify important issues from substantial amounts of information.

• The ability to construct clear, coherent and focused arguments.

• The ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

• Effective teamwork and working relationships.

• A genuine understanding of life at the Bar and the work undertaken in Landmark's practice areas.

Evidence of these qualities can come from legal, professional, academic and non-legal experiences.

Application and Selection Process

Landmark participates in the Pupillage Gateway and all applications for pupillage must be made through the Gateway.

The first stage involves a review of applications by up to three members of Chambers. Applications are independently assessed against Landmark's selection criteria.

Landmark uses a blind application process. Application forms are redacted to remove personally identifiable information and equality and diversity information before being reviewed by markers. This is intended to reduce unconscious bias during the initial assessment.

Candidates selected at the initial stage progress to a one-hour written assessment. The assessment is based on a legal problem, with appropriate access to research materials provided.

Candidates who perform well in the written assessment are invited to the final interview stage.

Interviews last up to 40 minutes and are conducted by panels containing members of Chambers from different levels of seniority together with a Practice Director. There are separate interview panels for the general and property pupillages.

Candidates receive a legal question 24 hours before the interview. They also receive a more general discussion question 20 minutes before the interview, which does not require prior research.

Offers are made based on the candidate's application, written assessment and interview performance.

Pupillage Award and Financial Support

Landmark currently publishes a pupillage award of £80,000 per year.

The award is paid in equal monthly instalments and includes an optional £30,000 drawdown, which can be used during the year preceding the start of pupillage.

Chambers also funds pupils' attendance at external training events throughout pupillage, including compulsory courses required by the Bar Standards Board and the Inns of Court.

The £80,000 figure is Landmark's current published award. Candidates applying for the October 2028 intake should check the final Pupillage Gateway advertisement for any updated remuneration before relying on this figure as the confirmed 2028 award.

Tenancy

Landmark assesses pupils individually on their own abilities and performance rather than placing them in competition with one another for a fixed number of tenancy positions.

The tenancy decision is usually made after the first three seats of pupillage.

Landmark currently reports a strong retention record, having taken on eight of nine pupils over the previous three years. Where Chambers is unable to offer tenancy, it has a record of assisting former pupils in finding third-six opportunities or tenancies elsewhere.

Training and Support

Pupils receive support from their supervisors throughout the year. The Pupillage Committee oversees the supervision arrangements and may arrange additional support from Silks on more complex matters.

Landmark also operates an internal mentoring programme providing informal technical, pastoral and career support separate from the pupil's supervisor.

Pupils have access to Chambers' legal library and online legal research resources, including Westlaw and LexisNexis. They are also trained to use the Chambers' practice management and diary system.

The wider support structure includes experienced teams covering administration, HR, marketing, finance, IT and practice management.

Mini-Pupillage

Landmark operates a substantial mini-pupillage programme, taking up to 60 students each year for placements lasting between three and five days.

Mini-pupils are supervised by junior members of Chambers and are given exposure to a broad range of work. Where possible, a more senior barrister acts as a satellite supervisor on complex cases.

Mini-pupillage is not assessed and does not form part of the pupillage selection process. It is intended to give prospective applicants a realistic understanding of life at the Bar and Landmark's areas of practice.

Landmark operates three mini-pupillage intakes each year:

• February and March: applications from 1 August to 30 November.

• May and June: applications from 1 December to 28 February.

• October and November: applications from 1 March to 31 July.

Eligibility varies according to the intake and includes undergraduate law students, non-law students considering a legal career, postgraduate law students, Bar students and existing professionals.

Landmark reimburses mini-pupils up to £100 for reasonable travel and lunch expenses and operates a discretionary accommodation funding scheme for students travelling from outside London.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Landmark is committed to improving equality and diversity at the Bar and aims to recruit from the widest possible pool of talent.

The Chambers has policies covering equality of opportunity and non-discrimination and recognises the under-representation of groups including women, Black and ethnic minority people and LGBTQIA+ people within Chambers and the wider Bar.

Its blind application process is intended to reduce unconscious bias during recruitment.

Recruitment Events

Landmark holds recruitment events throughout the year, including pupillage open evenings and specialist events designed to give prospective applicants an opportunity to learn more about Chambers and the application process.

The current recruitment calendar includes an in-person Pupillage Open Evening on 18 November 2026 and an online Pupillage Open Evening on 20 January 2027.

Application Deadline

The national Pupillage Gateway application window for the 2028 pupillage cycle opens on 4 January 2027 at 11:00am and closes on 28 January 2027 at 11:59pm. Applications cannot be submitted or amended after the closing time, and extensions are not available.

For Landmark's 2028 pupillage recruitment, candidates should therefore submit their application through the Pupillage Gateway by 28 January 2027.