Littleton Chambers is committed not only to the highest standards of professional service, but also to making a positive contribution to the profession and the wider community. We place particular importance on wellbeing within chambers, fair pay, pro bono work, and initiatives that seek to widen access to the Bar and the legal profession more broadly. The initiatives outlined below reflect that continuing commitment.
Littleton Chambers is an accredited London Living Wage employer. This means all employees are paid at or above the London Living wage hourly rate which is set by the Living Wage Commission. The rate is assessed to ensure that employees earn a wage which meets the real cost of living and working in London.
We actively promote the health and wellbeing of our employees, members and pupils. In 2025 we were re-awarded the Bar Council’s Certificate of Recognition for Wellbeing at the Bar. We remain committed to fostering a supportive and inclusive working environment for all.
Littleton actively supports various pro bono initiatives including but not limited to Advocate, Employment Law Appeal Advice Scheme (ELAAS), Chancery Bar Litigant in Person Support Scheme (CLIPS), Employment Tribunal Litigant in Person Support Scheme (ELIPS), Free Representation Unit (FRU) and others.
We are honoured to be official patrons of two leading access to justice charities, namely Advocate and Support Through Court.
Littleton is extremely proud to have been part of the founding committee of 10,000 Black Interns – a program designed to promote opportunities for black law students to access the profession. In the last two years, we have helped arrange six-week placements for over 40 Black students at over 50 different sets including those outside London. The feedback provided from each student has been effusive. Our first intern Anaya Price said of the scheme “Thank you, everyone at Littleton, for welcoming me so openly and warmly. I had tremendous insight at Littleton, and it has definitely given me a new outlook on life as a barrister. Thank you for the introductions that created such great connections and learning opportunities.”
We are proud to be a founding partner of Bridging the Bar, a charity committed to the promotion of equal opportunities and diversity at the Bar, at all professional levels. Bridging the Bar’s mission is to ‘bridge’ the gap between the current Bar and a future Bar, that reflects the diversity of society.
We are supporting this mission by participating in the Bridging the Bar mini-pupillage scheme, through which candidates will be able to apply for a dedicated mini-pupillage experience, outside of our usual recruitment process. Furthermore, many individual members of Littleton have signed up to act as mentors to guide candidates through their pupillage applications and beyond. Bridging the Bar also seeks to be transparent with their candidates to recognise the current inequality of opportunity at the Bar, and to highlight the chambers and organisations leading the way to greater equality.
In addition to these initiatives, Bridging the Bar are also providing candidates with opportunities for work experience, workshops for skills such as advocacy, interview skills and mooting, and wellbeing programmes to support candidates through their applications.
We have participated in Inner Temple’s PASS scheme since its inception. This scheme provides mini pupillages for high achieving barristers from under-represented backgrounds. We continue to actively support this initiative and welcome students every year.
The COMBAR mentoring student mentoring scheme aims to support and encourage individuals from groups which are traditionally underrepresented at the Bar to pursue careers as barristers. Our members provide a series on one-to one mentoring sessions with candidates.
The Littleton Inspire Sports Law initiative is designed to support:
(1) athletes transitioning away from high-performance sport into a career in the law; and/or
(2) those from underrepresented socio-economic backgrounds who wish to embark on legal careers at the Bar.
The initiative includes opportunities for:
Recent examples of participants in the scheme have been Christine Ohuruogu (athletics), Miles Benjamin (rugby union) and Zafar Ansari (cricket). Please view the videos to understand the experiences of some of the participants in the Littleton Sports Law Initiatives.
At present the Littleton Sports Law Group offers 3-4 places on the initiative per calendar year. Applications by way of maximum 1-page covering letter and 2-page CV should be emailed to Ian Smethurst at ian@littletonchambers.co.uk.
“I applied to Littleton’s Inspire Sports Law initiative due to the highly reputable nature of their sports law practice – an area of law I am keen to pursue at the Bar. This was particularly important to me, given that sports law is a growing field and thus it can be more challenging to get a flavour for it, compared to other longer established areas of law.
“A mini-pupillage at Littleton allowed me to gain a clearer understanding of what sports law practice at the Bar entails. The two days I spent were well-structured and organised, providing me with the opportunity to sit with different members of chambers and meet many people across chambers. I learned not only about their sports law practices but also other areas of chambers’ expertise.
“On my first day, I was supervised by the incredibly welcoming and lovely Sam Neaman and on my second day I was supervised by the equally lovely and kind Alex Francis. During this time, I read and discussed various cases, covering employment law, sports law and even employment law within the sports context – demonstrating to me the interconnectedness of sports law with other areas of chambers’ expertise.
“I would highly recommend the scheme because of the valuable insights it offers into sports law, as well as the supportive and approachable people at chambers who were incredibly generous with their time and knowledge, always willing to offer guidance. The set’s warm and friendly atmosphere made my experience all the more enriching – one for which I’m truly grateful.”
Shukri Lloyd (recent ISL participant)
