Outreach

Serle Court has an annually changing programme of outreach initiatives and events, but in the last couple of years we have been involved in the ways set out below.

Outreach to schools

• Chambers has an ongoing relationship with Harris Westminster Academy, a selective sixth form which takes pupils from across London, giving priority to those who have been in care, are in receipt of pupil premium or receive free school meals.
• Serle Court has for many years run a mock trial summer school in an east London school supporting the organisation Lauriston Lights which works with pupils from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
• Chambers is involved with Oxbridge Prospects, a charity that supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds to optimise their applications to Oxbridge.
• Serle Court was the only set of Chambers involved, with both barristers and clerks, in the inaugural PowerUp Fest 2024 which was held in Regents Park in the summer. Described in its advertising as a cross between a careers fair, a TED talk, a barbeque and a music festival, its organiser Peppo is a not-for-profit social enterprise that focuses on social mobility through inspiring disadvantaged students to network with professionals.

Outreach to universities

• Serle Court sponsors a range of University Law Societies, by funding and judging essay prizes and by sponsoring and otherwise supporting mooting. Universities with whom we are involved include UCL, LSE, Kings College London, Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol, all of whom have vibrant diversity initiatives of their own. Here our aim is to inspire and interest students in a career at the commercial Chancery Bar.

Outreach to students for the Bar

• Serle Court participates in the Pegasus Access and Support Scheme (PASS), which is an annual Inner Temple initiative aiming to improve access to the Bar and to support high achieving students from under-represented backgrounds by providing experiences they need to be able to thrive at the Bar. We also participate in the equivalent Scheme run by Middle Temple, the Access to the Bar Scheme. These target university students not yet on the Bar Training Course.
• Many members of Chambers act as mentors to Bar, university and school students under the umbrella of schemes such as those run by COMBAR (the Commercial Bar Association), or the Social Mobility Foundation and Bridging the Bar.  

One member of chambers is taking part in the Bar Council’s reverse mentoring scheme where Black aspiring lawyers mentor White senior barristers.

10,000 Black Interns

Serle Court participates annually in the 10,000 Black Interns scheme, a programme aimed at transforming the horizons of young Black talent with paid internships across over 25 sectors.

The scheme was set up in 2022 in response to the stark underrepresentation of Black talent in the founders’ industries. Initially the group aimed to place 100 Black students and graduates in internship positions within investment managing – a goal that was quickly eclipsed with the aim now being 10,000 Black interns in five years.

Serle Court is part of the programme’s ‘Legal: The Bar’ offering, giving Black students and graduates the opportunity to gain insight into lives of barristers and providing them with invaluable skills should they wish to pursue a career at the Bar, or indeed any other facet of the legal industry.  We first met one of our incoming pupils by being matched with them in this scheme.

Charitable causes

• In addition to individual fundraising efforts by its members, Serle Court supports charitable causes and events with the theme of Access to Justice or social inclusion.  For example, Serle Court annually fields a team for the London Legal Walk. The London Legal Walk is an event organised by The London Legal Support Trust, who provide support to a wide range of not-for-profit organisations and legal services that give a key route to access for justice for people who need it.
• We also provide committed annual sponsorship to the Free Representation Unit.