What can I expect if I am offered a tenancy?
Expenses
Fountain Court operates a loan/income supplement scheme to ensure that new tenants receive an income of at least equal to a pupillage award during their first year of tenancy. In our experience tenants generally receive more than this and are soon earning more than a solicitor in a City firm at a comparable stage.
Members of Chambers share the expenses of administering Chambers. Contributions are proportionate to income so that the senior members of Chambers pay the greater part of the costs. "Maternity leave" is given in the form of requiring no contribution to Chambers' expenses for six months.
In their first year of practice tenants are not required to pay any contribution Chambers' expenses. Instead they may be asked to undertake a modest amount of unpaid legal work, for example, for voluntary or charitable organizations.
Chambers encourages, and pays for, new tenants to attend the week-long advanced advocacy course run by the South-Eastern Circuit at Keble College, Oxford.