Bar hopeful D-day now 3 May 2017
The Bar Council has today confirmed pupillage offer day will be moved. The news comes after a diary oversight saw it scheduled to take place on the same day as a Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exam.
Before today’s announcement, this year’s BPTC students were set to learn their pupillage fate on 2 May 2017. Unfortunately — in a move that left both the Bar Council and Bar Standards Board (BSB) with red faces — this was the same day students were due to sit their stress-inducing civil litigation exam.
After Legal Cheek pointed out the error earlier this month, a spokesperson for the bar’s regulator and representative confirmed it would look into “alternative dates and options”.
True to its word, the Bar Council today confirmed that aspiring barristers will now receive pupillage offers on 3 May 2017. A spokesperson said:
We are pleased to announce that we have moved the pupillage offer day for 2017 to Wednesday 3 May so that it now takes place one day later. On the day of the exam, it is important for students be able to focus all their attention on doing as well as they possibly can.
The civil litigation exam — which is set by the BSB, not by training providers — will take place as originally scheduled on 2 May 2017.
This will come as welcome news to wannabe barristers who have narrowly avoided a day of stress-fuelled hell. BPTC students can now spread this hell over two manageable installments instead. You’re welcome.