The Inns of Court

The Inns of Court are the home of London’s legal profession and associations to which every English barrister must belong. The “Inns” were once a hostel for trainee lawyers. In the 19th century King’s College was built next to Somerset House to teach law; before this however, the only way to obtain legal training was to serve an apprenticeship at one of the Inns of Court. Today, the number of Inns has been reduced to just four - Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All are located in the Holborn area of London.

Legal corridors at the Inns of Court

Each of the four Inns of Court has three ordinary grades of membership: students, barristers, and Masters of the Bench or "benchers". The benchers constitute the governing body for each Inn and appoint new members from among existing barrister members.

Lincoln’s Inn is the oldest of the Inns and can be traced back to 1422. It takes its name from the third Earl of Lincoln, who lived nearby; it also has some of the best preserved buildings of all the Inns.  Members of Lincoln’s Inn include many past and present famous people including Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

Today, the Inns of Court are a more peaceful place, with plenty of atmospheric cobbled lanes to stroll around. The ghost of the great Victorian writer Charles Dickens is said to haunt the streets near the Old Curiosity Shop. This is a tiny 16th century overhanging building, now a shoe shop and the inspiration for Little Nell’s Antique Shop.