Response to BSB proposals
The Bar Council has said that eliminating degree requirements for bar training will exacerbate the current bottleneck, leading to more graduates investing substantial amounts in bar training only to struggle in securing a pupillage and practicing as barristers.
Submitting a response to the Bar Standards Board’s proposed reforms to the academic requirements for bar course training, the Council has rejected the majority of the BSB’s suggestions, including the proposed removal of the minimum 2:2 degree requirement to undertake bar training.
As is stands, budding barristers must hold a minimum of a 2:2 degree in order to undertake bar training, but are not eligible to practice as a barrister until they have also completed a pupillage.
Speaking on the proposals, Bar Council chair Sam Townend KC said:
“We have studied the proposals carefully. The Bar Council objects to the majority of the BSB’s proposed reforms because they would lower standards, make the assessment of academic standards equivalent to degrees more difficult and transfer decisions away from the BSB, the regulator formally tasked with the job, to the training providers, who are not accountable and who have a clear financial interest in maximising the number of students taking up Bar training.”
He continued: “There are already thousands taking the roughly 20 Bar training courses, but only a little over 600 pupillage places. The clear intent of the regulator’s intended reform is to increase yet further the numbers taking bar training courses, inevitably ramping up further the numbers of students who will have paid the high level of fees but be disappointed in not obtaining a pupillage. We think this is the wrong approach.”
“The BSB’s own research shows that a primary indicator of success in securing pupillage is a high degree classification.There already are existing exceptional circumstances provided for. Lowering qualification standards is not the answer to improving access to and diversity within the profession,” the Keating Chambers silk added.
The consultation was launched in January, with the proposed changes planned to come into effect from September 2025.