The Council of the Inns of Court (COIC) Pupillage Matched Funding Scheme helps provide additional pupillages in chambers, and other approved training organisations, predominantly engaged in legally aided work. Encouragingly, a growing number of chambers are applying for COIC match-funded grants.

It is a prerequisite of the scheme that chambers understand that match-funded pupillages are in addition to those they would have offered in any event.

COIC matches pupillage funding already provided by chambers with a total grant of £10,900 for 2025-26 London pupillages and £10,000 for 2025-26 out of London pupillages, and £12,000 for 2026-27 London pupillages and £11,000 for 2026-27 out of London pupillages, to fund the first six months of a second pupillage. Chambers are responsible for ensuring that the total pupillage award meets the Bar Standards Board’s minimum award for the year in question.

Applications to match fund 2025-26 and 2026-27 pupillages are invited between 2 September and 18 October 2024.

Decisions will be communicated during the week commencing 4 November 2024.

Online applications can be made here.

To find out more, please email Hayley Dawes at hdawes@coic.org.uk


Testimonials

Maria Savvides, Head of Northampton Chambers:

As Head of Northampton Chambers, I take immense pride in our rich legacy as the oldest chambers in Northampton. Although we are a smaller set, we cherish the close-knit and friendly atmosphere that permeates throughout Chambers, from our experienced barristers to our dedicated clerks and aspiring pupils.

Most of our work is legally aided, supporting vulnerable children and families involved in care proceedings. While this may not always be the most financially lucrative avenue, it is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding in other ways. As a result, Chambers doesn’t always enjoy the high levels of income seen in commercial sets. Without the support of the matched funding scheme, our pupillage programme would simply not be sustainable.

Through this initiative, bolstered by our collective investment, we’ve been able to nurture a vibrant cohort of barristers who embody diversity, talent and dedication. Together, we’re not just shaping careers, we are making a lasting impact on the lives of those who rely on us for justice and support. I am deeply grateful for the opportunities this scheme affords us to continue our mission of delivering exceptional legal services whilst nurturing the next generation of barristers.

Charlotte Newell KC, Head of Pupillage, 5KBW:

5KBW is a predominantly criminal set and offers 12-month pupillages focused on this area. Chambers have quite deliberately remained small in comparison to other sets with a focus on quality work and excellence in advocacy. We are a very busy and thriving set with the opportunity to shadow and become practitioners dealing with the most high-profile and most complex criminal cases.
To maintain the high standards of the Criminal Bar we must continue to seek to attract and recruit pupils who demonstrate talent, dedication and enthusiasm and we have done so throughout the difficulties posed by financial cuts, the pandemic and by the Criminal Bar Association action. We invest considerable time and effort in our pupillage programme, including mini pupillage and outreach work.
We are enormously grateful for the assistance provided over the last decade by COIC’s matched funding scheme enabling us to continue to invest in the future of the profession by offering more high quality and competitively remunerated pupillages. The application process is very straightforward. The scheme is a fabulous initiative from which the whole Bar benefits.