Nottingham Law School at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has launched its new version of the vocational training course for barristers.
The Barristers Training Course (BTC) and the LLM Barristers Training Course (LLM BTC) will replace the old Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). The Bar Standards Board has authorised the change.
The 2019/20 fee for the old BPTC at Nottingham was £15,200. The new BTC fees will be £11,750, and the school is offering a further £1,000 reduction on fees for the first intake of students.
Meanwhile, fees for the alternative course, the LLM BTC, will be £14,500.
Both courses will run from September 2020 with the LLM route lasting nine months and the vanilla BTC lasting six.
The BPTC is being phased out as the way barristers are trained is changed. The four key principles of the Bar Standards Board’s Future Bar Training programme are flexibility, affordability, accessibility and high standards and new courses are being designed to reflect this.
The University of Law (ULaw) has already announced a new course, the Bar Practice Course (BPC), again at a cheaper price than the old BPTC. Outside of London, ULaw’s BPC fees exactly match NTU’s £11,750 for the BTC.
Jenny Chapman, the deputy dean of NLS, said: “NLS has been successfully delivering high quality vocational training for those who wish to be called to the Bar since 1997 and is home to the UK’s first Centre for Advocacy and the Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution. We are proud of our connections with the Bar and our reputation for excellence in the delivery of training for the Bar as well as our continuous innovation in legal education, all backed up by research which pushes the boundaries of legal knowledge and practice.”
