Life as a tenant

Essex Court Chambers’ tenants enjoy exceptional opportunities to be involved in a diverse range of academically challenging, factually interesting and frequently high-profile disputes from the very earliest stages of their careers. Chambers attracts the highest calibre of work across all the areas of its expertise, including commercial litigation, arbitration, public law and public international law. Members act in the full spectrum of UK-based litigation, from County Court hearings to substantial High Court trials and appeals before the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and Privy Council, as well as specialist tribunals and public inquiries. They also regularly appear before the European Courts, and advise on and act in arbitrations and disputes around the world, including in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. For more details of the work undertaken by members of Essex Court Chambers, please see the areas of expertise.

From a very early stage, tenants of Essex Court Chambers are typically given a great degree of responsibility for the cases they work on. Some cases will involve a tenant being solely instructed, and others will involve the tenant working as part of a team of barristers, the latter often with other members of Chambers. There are regular opportunities for oral advocacy.

Tenants are supported in the development of their practices by a proactive and enthusiastic clerking team. As self-employed practitioners, each tenant has considerable ability to shape their own career, and can exercise a great degree of control over their day-to-day working life. This is a friendly and welcoming place from which to practice, and there is generous scope for holidays, parental leave, and flexible working.

Being self-employed, a tenant’s income year on year can never be entirely predicted or guaranteed. Nevertheless, experience suggests that new tenants’ levels of remuneration compare very favourably with those elsewhere at the Commercial Bar and in the major international solicitors’ firms.