Chancery
made to feel at home” with Trinity. Looking forward, he urges chambers to ensure that pupils feel included from the start: “A modern pupillage shouldn’t feel like you’re separate from the team – pupils should get a sense that they’re going to spend a number of years within that chambers.” Prior to his pupillage, Paul decided that he wanted to work with people within small businesses off the back of running his own business at university. Having been called to the Bar in 2018, he is now a business and property barrister, covering what is known as ‘commercial chancery work’, which often involves disputes with businesses, the structure of companies and management of commercial property. While it might sound very corporate, Paul is keen to emphasise the human aspect of his work: “You’re involved with people all the time. It’s a very personal area of law. You could come across families arguing over a will, or landlords in a dispute with tenants, so it affects peoples’ personal lives, which is what I really enjoy about the work.” Small victories and dusty offices Considering the cases he’s worked on over the years, Paul says that “it’s difficult to quantify a highlight because the simplest of case can have a massive impact on a client’s life”, before confirming that “even the smallest of victories are highlights” for him. When not working directly with clients, the Bar remains a very people-orientated career for Paul: “You work with a team of people in chambers, solicitors, clients, judges and experts, and start to build relationships with these people.” The image that Paul paints of his role as a barrister contrasts with the notion that most jobs in the legal profession involve sitting in an office all day, with books that have been collecting dust. As Paul outlines his day-to-day work, he highlights how far the profession has come in this
Chancery work is split into two areas: traditional and commercial. Traditional chancery includes trusts, probate, real property and tax, while commercial chancery covers a wide range of finance and business disputes. Chancery work often has an international dimension, relating to asset tracing, cross-border insolvency and offshore trusts. Chancery barristers present cases before tribunals all the way up to Supreme Court level and draft a wide range of documentation. Despite the Bar not always promising Dolly Parton’s nine to five, the advocacy and self-employed nature of being a barrister were two of the main reasons Paul Kerfoot was initially attracted to this career. He says: “I enjoy having control over the work I do and when I do it – being able to pick and choose my hours suits me. However, the issue with having a good practice is that it can often take over your life, and you might find yourself working longer than the standard day.” Although longer hours can be expected, Paul finds that he can organise his work in a way that helps him to maintain a healthy work-life balance, which is an important factor for him personally. As well as the autonomy that comes with being a barrister, Paul was also keen to get involved in advocacy. “I wanted to have the opportunity to progress through the courts and do the advocacy myself” – a skill that he would not necessarily have had the chance to develop had he chosen to pursue the solicitor route. From pupillage to barrister Reflecting on his time as a pupil at Trinity Chambers, Paul recalls the start of his pupillage being both overwhelming and exciting due to the variety of work he was exposed to. While many liken pupillage to a year-long interview, Paul was “very quickly
For more chambers that work in this practice area, please use the ‘Pupillage index’.
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