The Director General of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has promised a “lessons learned review” of how the online Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams were managed this August. Over the course of the last week a host of students have complained about serious problems with the exams, including technical issues with the online delivery […]
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has updated its statement to students in relation to the difficulties some faced when taking an online exam this week, but the update itself has sparked an angry reaction from the profession. Some students attempting to take the ethics exam for the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) were dismayed with […]
The BSB’s transparency means we see the truth everyone knows-far more students embark upon the BPTC than will ever get pupillage.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
The University of Law (ULaw) is to launch a new course to replace the existing Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC).
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 […]
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 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 […]