Bar appoints former head of law school to new education post

A NEW post of head of education and training has been created at the Bar Council as it undergoes a major expansion of its bureaucracy in response to several recent reforms.

Nigel Bastin, former head of Manchester Metropolitan University's law school, has taken up the newly-created post at the Bar Council.

The appointment follows the Bar's decision to end the Bar School's training monopoly by 1997, which means it must take over responsibility for the regulation of vocational legal education and training.

According to Bar Council chief executive Niall Morison, the move, along with setting up a new complaints system and a clearing house scheme for pupillages, will lead to a 50 per cent increase in staff.

But he has stressed it should not boost subscriptions because the Bar Council anticipates receiving funding from the Inns of Court and hopes to make some functions self-financing.

Bastin said the Bar was moving into an "exciting new era in the education and training of barristers". He added: "I look forward to playing a role in developing an integrated system of education and training for the Bar which will enable those entering the profession to meet the challenges which will face them in the new millennium."