Attend Court 9.30 – 16.45 (finishing times may vary)

Meet with a Judge before the hearing to discuss thoughts on the case. Attend each session, sitting next to the Judge on the bench. Short breaks in the hearing can be used for further discussion.

The scheme runs during the first fortnight of the second half of each term. The available hearings and dates will be announced on the Wednesday or Thursday of the preceding week. Anyone who wishes to attend will therefore need to be relatively flexible, and be aware that they may not receive confirmation until the day before.

Sessions will run during the weeks commencing:

23 February 2026;
2 March 2026;
2 June 2026;
8 June 2026.

When the precise dates are confirmed by the Court, the LSLA will contact the selected members to let them know (a) the available hearing dates; (b) the judges involved; and (c) the names of the parties.

Members are asked to confirm as quickly as possible which of the available dates they are able to attend.

Members are responsible for conflict checking and are asked to undertake this exercise as quickly as possible and advise if there are any hearings they would not be able to attend for conflict purposes. Once availability and conflict checks have been completed, the members’ information will be passed to the Court clerk responsible for allocation of places who will liaise with members.

A confidentiality form will be sent, which should be returned as quickly as possible so that case documents, including skeleton arguments, can be provided.

As Members will be aware, cases sometimes settle and hearings are sometimes vacated at short notice. In such circumstances the member will be advised and may be offered an alternative where one is available.

If you are interested in attending, register interest here (members only).

Where there is more interest than there are places available, names will be chosen at random. If you are not selected, your name will automatically be put forward for subsequent sessions.

We will contact the selected members a few weeks before the scheduled sessions. The precise dates when hearings are available may not be provided until the Wednesday/Thursday of the week before. As such, we ask members to be as patient and flexible as possible.

Please let us know as soon as possible and we will put your name back on the list for future sessions.

No. Given the number of places, and short time frame for allocation, only issues of conflict or availability will be taken into account when spaces are allocated.

You will be sent various case documents, including skeleton arguments. These may not be sent until the night before (which may be over the weekend). You will get more out of the day if you have read them and the Judge you will be sitting with will expect you to have read those documents.

All information about the day will be provided by the Court clerk, who will meet you at the start of the day. Previous participants were told to meet in the foyer of the Rolls Building, just past security and/or outside the doors on floor 4 of the Rolls Building. But, this may vary week to week.

You will be able to leave things in a conference room, which may be shared with other members or junior barristers participating in a similar scheme.

You will be sitting on the bench with a Judge. Whilst you will be able to take your laptop to be able to access the case documents, you will be expected to be concentrating on the hearing in front of you. You will also be with the Judge during the short breaks in the hearing. There will be an opportunity to catch up on emails during the lunch break, but you should be prepared to be uncontactable for the rest of the day.

The LSLA scheme runs parallel to a similar scheme run by COMBAR for pupil and junior barristers. As such there may be others in Court for a similar purpose on the same day. There may even be two people sitting with the same Judge.

The Court will break in the usual way for lunch. Leaving the building, requires Court staff to accompany you in and out (as you will be based in an area which is not open to the public). The Court recommends that participants bring lunch with them, and it can be eaten in the conference room. You will not eat lunch with your allocated Judge.

Please do let the LSLA and the Court clerk know as soon as possible if you have been allocated a day so that we can try to find you another date within that session. This may not always be possible.