9SJS Access Award

The 9SJS Access Award and 9SJS Young Person Access Award gives the successful applicants the following opportunities:

• A mini-pupillage with Chambers at date to suit the applicants (between 2-5 days) with reasonable travel expenses covered;
• Shadowing a Judge with reasonable travel expenses covered;
• A 121 advocacy coaching session with a Barrister;
• A CV and application clinic with a Barrister (not to include specific tips on our pupillage application process);
• A conversation with a Senior Clerk
• A conversation with a King's Counsel (KC); and
• A dedicated mentor from our Chambers for a year (this will not include assistance with applying to our Chambers for pupillage).

In honour of our colleague and valued member of Chambers, Mr Simon Temple, successful applicants will also receive the Memorial Temple Bursary of £500.00.

Winners of the Award will be able to select which opportunities they would like to participate in.

Wherever possible, the above opportunities will be offered remotely.

For the mini-pupillage and judicial shadowing, reasonable travel expenses will be covered.

Please refer to our brochures for further information.

How will my application be scored?

Your application will be marked against the following criteria:

• Persuasiveness (3)
• Personal relevance (can the candidate draw from personal experience to explain/justify their answer) (7)
• Exceptional circumstances (2)

Details for the application process of our Access Award and Young Person Access Award can be found in the brochures on this page.

• Answers to the question in no more than 350 words total
• Your word count
• Your full name
• Your age
• Your email address
• A contact telephone number
• If you would like to, we would also invite you to complete and return our Equality & Diversity Questionnaire.

We are able to receive applications before the deadline to access@9sjs.com by:

• Written email
• Verbal recording
• Video recording

Your application will be marked against the following criteria:

• Focus/relevance: has the question been answered (10)
• Persuasiveness (10)
• Personal relevance (can the candidate draw from personal experience to explain/justify their answer) (15)
• Style (5)

After the deadline, applications will be reviewed and scored by members of our Chambers.

If we consider it necessary, shortlisted candidates will be invited to an online interview.

The winners of the 9SJS Access Award and 9SJS Young Person Access Award will be notified by email as soon as possible after the last interview has taken place.

The deadline for applications for the 2024 award is 4pm on Friday 16 February 2024.

Regrettably we will not be able to provide any feedback on applications or online interviews.

We are asking applicants to complete an Equality & Diversity Questionnaire. This is optional and will remain anonymous. The data collected will not form any part of scoring the applications. By returning the Questionnaire you are consenting to us using your data in accordance with our Data Protection Policy which you can find here.

If we can offer any reasonable adjustments to the application process, once the details have been announced, please just let us know by email to access@9sjs.com as soon as possible. Please make any requests in good time, ahead of the deadline for submission.

All candidates who are invited to the online interviews will be asked in advance to confirm any reasonable adjustments which we could make.

Similarly, we will endeavour to accommodate any reasonable adjustments for the winners to fulfil all the available opportunities.