Becoming a Bencher

I wanted to become a Bencher because of the overwhelmingly positive experiences I’ve had engaging with The Inner Temple, including before I joined. I chose to join The Inner Temple as a student because of the excellent hospitality and welcome they provided at a student event, which compared very favourably to other Inns’ offerings. I took advantage of various activities offered for development – mentoring, marshalling, and pupillage application support. Through those experiences I engaged with members of the Inn of varying levels of seniority, all of whom were generous with their time and warm with their encouragement. As someone with no family background in law or connection to the legal profession, I relied very heavily on what The Inner Temple provided to better present myself in pupillage applications. I have no doubt those experiences contributed to me eventually obtaining pupillage.

I had always wanted to return the favour and support Inner’s activities when I was in a position to do so, and had my eye on becoming an advocacy trainer and supporting other educational activities when I had reached the requisite level of experience – 7 years’ qualified. At the time I wasn’t aware that there were other activities I could have got involved in as a very junior practitioner, such as scholarship interviews, the Junior Bar Association, and the Bar Liaison Committee.

As it turned out I started supporting qualifying session weekends earlier than the 7-year cut-off the Inn usually expected – they doubled capacity at short notice for one December weekend in 2013 and were desperate. I acted as a group leader supporting Bar Course students through an advocacy exercise based on that weekend’s topic – stalking law. I found that weekend immensely enjoyable and incredibly rewarding. It was great to see the students gaining confidence in performing advocacy. I also found the experts’ panel fascinating. However, my personal highlight was Lady Laws performing a poem based on the 12 Days of Christmas from the perspective of the unwanted recipient, directed to the sender of the gifts. That her husband – a Court of Appeal judge – was happy to be the butt of the joke of that poem reinforced my earlier perception that the Inn’s ethos was not wedded to tradition and hierarchy, and that the role of a Master of the Bench was about much more than status.

As a practising barrister, as opposed to a judge or academic, my application was for a position as a Barrister Governing Bencher. Whilst the process is the same for different types of Governing Bencher, there is an additional layer of consideration for Barrister Governing Benchers because of the cap on numbers, which doesn’t apply to other types of Bencher. Anyone who is practising as a barrister can apply to be a Barrister Governing Bencher. The focus of the appointment criteria is what contribution you have made (or can make if circumstances such as caring responsibilities have limited your capacity to contribute previously) to The Inner Temple, as well as the wider profession, and will make to running the Inn and its activities. There is consideration of your distinction and ability in practice, but this would not take priority over contributions to the Inn and is not the level of distinction that would be expected for an application for silk, for example.

To apply you will need the support of three Governing Benchers, only one of whom can be a judge for a barrister applicant. However, you don’t need to wait for someone to tap you on the shoulder to apply. That being said, it is definitely worth having a think about who might be able to support your application well ahead of the application deadline in around April each year. If, like me, you find the idea of contacting people you don’t know very well and asking them to say nice things about you vomit-inducing, then I’d recommend starting this process very far ahead of time, which will allow you to drop it in more casually when you come across these people at events. Everyone I have spoken with is delighted to be asked to support an application, as long as they have come across you as part of the Inn’s work, so don’t worry too much about asking. If you’re not sure who might be able to support your application, there are lists of all Benchers and the membership of each committee on the Inn’s website, so you can check those to see if people you’ve come across are Benchers.

I was lucky to have been given a nudge by a Bencher I met in scholarship interviews who suggested I join the Bar Liaison Committee and later supported my application by providing a reference. She also pointed me to the Committee memberships to help me identify people I knew who could speak to different areas I’d volunteered with. Having given my time to a range of activities, I wanted supporters who could directly comment on my contribution across each area, so I asked Benchers who could talk about scholarship interviews, qualifying sessions weekends, and advocacy training.

I was able to demonstrate significant commitment to the Inn as a consequence of having volunteered across different activities for over a decade. However, this was probably far in excess of what is expected of Bencher applicants and the timeframe is largely as a consequence of my own discomfort about asking people to act as supporters.

I had always wanted to return the favour and support Inner’s activities when I was in a position to do so, and had my eye on becoming an advocacy trainer and supporting other educational activities…

The application involves setting out your volunteering/contribution to the Inn and the profession more widely, providing details about your practice, and giving the names of your three supporters – the Inn will contact them directly for their references. There will often be more applications than there are spaces available, so there are several stages to the process. Firstly, the Bencher Nomination Committee will review all of the applications and identify those who meet the criteria and are therefore considered to be eligible for election. For employed barristers or those practising outside of the South Eastern Circuit the Bencher Nomination Committee can recommend direct referral to Bench Table (the final round). All eligible candidates will be notified to the Executive Committee who will either go forward as direct referrals or be put into a ballot where all Governing Benchers can vote. Directly referred candidates and those with the most votes in the ballot, equal to the number of spaces available, will then be notified to Bench Table for election.

The Inner Temple is incredibly keen to encourage members of the Inn from underrepresented groups to become involved in its governance and, ultimately, have a more representative group of Benchers. That includes type/location of practice as well as protected characteristics. For my application this meant as an employed barrister I was directly referred for election at Bench Table. I would strongly encourage anyone interested in becoming a Bencher to apply. It can definitely be a competitive process, but if you’re not put forward by the Bencher Nomination Committee you will be given a steer as to the reasons and steps you can take to put in a stronger application in future. Your application will also carry over into the next year if you are unsuccessful.

Each year the Inn circulates a questionnaire for Governing Benchers to identify areas where they are interested in supporting, primarily through membership of the various committees established to administer the Inn’s activities. There are a huge variety of areas to get involved in, from the many facets of the education and training offering, including outreach and scholarships, to the management of financial assets, the Library and the buildings themselves. Some roles involve representing the Inn externally. For my first allocation, I was given Co-Assistant Master of the Employed Bar and the Advocacy Training Committee.

I have really enjoyed my first year as a Bencher. I managed to have lunch at High Table almost immediately, and just before Hall closed for summer. The food was as fabulous as ever, but I really enjoyed the table service as a treat. There was a really helpful induction from the Sub-Treasurer, which was after my name had been added to a peg in the Lady Benchers’ hallway, so I got to take a picture of that. The appointment includes two places at the Benchers’ dinner in November, so I took my mum along. All the new Benchers are invited along and, although it’s not a ceremony like some other Inns have, it is very much a celebration of newly elected Benchers. The food and wine were also some of the best I have had dining at The Inner Temple. The process for paying bench commons by direct debit is really straightforward and using this to book events, rather than having to book and pay for things individually, does take away a lot of admin.

My time commitment since being made a Bencher is fairly similar to what I was doing before, with the addition of regular Bench Table (governing board) meetings. The Advocacy Training Committee meets five times a year, holds four advocacy weekends per year as well as other days and evenings – I aim to go to all the meetings, but the same doesn’t apply to all the training events, nor is it expected. Dates for these are circulated far ahead of time. The meeting dates are set by January, and the advocacy training dates are confirmed many months ahead. Similarly, availability for scholarship and outreach events is requested and confirmed months ahead of time. There are many opportunities to support the work of the Inn, but there’s no requirement or expectation to get involved in everything, or even multiple things. However, most people I encounter do volunteer across various activities because they are all passionate about the work of the Inn. With a full-time job it can be challenging to fit in the various meetings (I’ve put myself forward for a number of working groups above my “official” allocation so I have quite a few) as the times often mean I need to start my working day 30–60 minutes earlier than usual and the reading has to be fit in during my lunchbreak or another evening. That being said, the amount of things I am involved in is because I’ve chosen to be, and I wouldn’t do as much it if it wasn’t manageable.

Overall, if you’re committed to the Inn’s operations and want to help shape how these are delivered, then I’m sure you’d be a great asset and I would strongly encourage you to apply.

Hannah Smith
Principal Lawyer
General Pharmaceutical Council

For any questions about Bencher elections please visit our website or contact the
Head of the Sub-Treasurer’s Office, Jennie Collis Price at jcollisprice@innertemple.org.uk