The best and worst places to study if you want pupillage
The BSB’s transparency means we see the truth everyone knows-far more students embark upon the BPTC than will ever get pupillage.
Disabled BPTC students accuse BSB of dropping the ball on exam provision
Students with disabilities who are set to take the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams online this summer have expressed their dismay after providers emailed them at short notice, leaving only 24 hours for them to decide whether to agree to take the exams in a testing centre, with no guarantee their special requirements would […]
BAME students suffer in pupillage chase as Bar course numbers hit 10-year high
The number of students enrolled on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) rose to 1,753 in 2018-19, the highest figure since it replaced the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) began in 2011. The number is an increase on the 1,620 enrolled last year. Nearly half of all enrolled students come from overseas. The latest research from […]
Bar exams go online – but no sooner than August
Exams for the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) will be able to be taken remotely, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has announced. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the BSB delayed the exams, from April until August. The move affected the April sitting of centralised examinations (CEB) in civil litigation, criminal litigation and professional […]
We need to talk about mental health and pupillage applications
Trigger warning: discussion of eating disorder, discussion of suicide attempt. To set the scene, by and large, my experience of applying for pupillage was better than most. And even then, it was pretty soul-destroying. I only applied in one cycle so my (already quite fragile) sense of self-esteem didn’t have to take a repeated battering […]
Henderson Chambers pulls out of pupillage recruitment over interviewing pressures
Update (23 March): Henderson has instead deferred, not cancelled, the current round of pupillage interviews until the summer and autumn, following discussions with the Bar Council. Henderson Chambers has become the first set to bow out of this year’s pupillage recruitment round. Chambers are in the midst of recruiting pupils for its 2021-22 cohort, as […]
Coronavirus: Chambers postpone mini-pupillage schemes
Several barristers’ chambers have decided to postpone mini-pupillage schemes, as they operate on a co-location working basis due to coronavirus. Among the chambers to have put pupillage work experience on hold are One Essex Court, 7KBW, 3VB and Brick Court. Meanwhile, Blackstone has taken steps to undertake them remotely. A mini-pupillage gives future barristers a […]
BSB postpones Bar Professional Training Course exams
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has postponed planned exams for the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) due to the coronavirus pandemic. The exams were due to take place in April, but in a statement, the BSB said: “In light of yesterday’s government statement about the latest measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 we have […]
Pupillage application timetable to be standardised at last
All barristers’ chambers will have to advertise and recruit pupils at the same time, following reforms to the process announced by the Bar Standards Board (BSB). The process has long had quirks, allowing some chambers the ability to partially operate outside the Bar Council-operated Pupillage Gateway application system and set their own timetables for applications. […]
Bar Standards Board raises minimum pupillage award for 2020
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has raised the minimum pupillage award for the second time this year. Between 2011 to 2018 the minimum allowed pupillage award was £12,000. At that point the BSB stepped in to guaranteed the minimum living wage in future for pupils. The most recent minimum came into effect in September and […]
ULaw dumps BPTC for new “more flexible” bar training course that’s nearly £6,000 cheaper
The University of Law (ULaw) is to launch a new course to replace the existing Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC).
Inns of Court launches ‘not-for-profit’ BPTC that’s cheaper than all UK law schools
The Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) has applied to the Bar Standards Board (BSB) to be authorised to deliver a new version of the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) from autumn 2020. If approved, the course will be unique in that it will be run as a not-for-profit venture. Speaking to Lawyer 2B, course director […]
Average BPTC fee passes £16,000 as all but three law schools raise prices for 2019/20
The average fee for the Bar Professional Qualification Course (BPTC) has passed £16,000 for the first time. The figure now stands at £16,239 after five of the eight providers of the course raised their prices for 2019/20. The average price is £348 higher than last year. BPP, which runs the BPTC in London, Birmingham, Bristol […]
Exchange Chambers doubles number of pupillages for 2020
Exchange Chambers is set to double its number of pupil barristers from 2020. The set, which works out of Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, currently takes three pupils a year, but has committed to increase that number to at least six, and potentially up to eight. Its pupillage award will remain at £25,000. The set is […]
Minimum pupillage award set to jump 50% in 2019
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has announced the new minimum award for pupil barristers. The new award will apply from 1 September 2019 will be £18,436 per year for pupillages in London and £15,728 outside the capital. Previously, the minimum a chambers could pay its pupils was £12,000, a figure which had been static since 2011. but […]
Pupillage and practice – an employed barrister’s perspective
By my third year of pupillage applications I was becoming disillusioned with the process. Since being called to the Bar I had been working as a self-employed advocate for LPC – in court on a daily basis “cutting my teeth” with advocacy. I knew my pupillage application was strong, but needed to stay motivated. I […]