Pupils


Alex Chakmakjian

Alex is a second six pupil. He practises in crime and is keen to gain experience in immigration, employment & discrimination, and in public law.

Before he started pupillage, Alex was a senior caseworker at a leading immigration & asylum firm, and volunteered in a community-based legal centre in Southall. He was heavily involved in the successful litigation and campaign for Gurkha veterans to be allowed to settle in the UK. In addition, Alex has worked as a front-line representative for detained fast-track asylum cases, and as an advocate in immigration bail applications.

Supervised in Chambers by Matthew Groves, Alex is gaining experience in criminal defence, judicial review, immigration, employment, and housing law matters. Recently, Alex helped in the preparation of the Supreme Court case in ZH (Tanzania) (2010).


Jacob Bindman

Jacob is currently a second six pupil supervised by Shiraz Rustom. He practises in crime and is keen to gain experience in immigration, employment & discrimination and in public law.

Prior to coming to the Bar he worked for four years at the firm Birnberg Peirce and Partners where he worked on a range of different areas including crime and terrorism, most recently as a paralegal on Control Order and Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) cases.

He recently spent three months as an Intern to the legal advisor to the President of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, followed by two months at the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights in Kingston, Jamaica.

Education: Ba (Hons) Politics - University of Manchester (First class), Graduate Diploma in Law - City University, BVC- Inns of Court School of Law (City).

Scholarships: Lincoln's Inn - Lord Denning (BVC), Lord Bowen(GDL), Hardwicke.