Exclusive: Offers fee discounts and perks for those willing to defer
Bar students at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) face uncertainty over their course progression next month, as the college has announced it will need to defer some places due to an oversubscription of students.
Legal Cheek can reveal that the ICCA informed students yesterday that demand for enrolment in part two of its bar course remains “above our capacity”, meaning some aspiring barrister will need to delay their start dates, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
The ICCA course is divided into two elements, part one and part two. The first comprises the Bar Standards Board’s civil and criminal litigation exams, and is studied remotely with students setting their own pace and schedule, choosing when they wish to sit the exams. Once both exams have been passed, budding barristers commence part two, completing the remaining required assessments in a five month in-person block.
However, this flexibility also brings uncertainty. With a “record number of students” eligible and hoping to begin part two of the course in early March, the ICCA will defer some start dates until at least September.
Students who are deferred will receive a one-third reduction in their next set of fees, along with “tailored support from the ICCA”, according to an email sent to students. This support includes career meetings, marshalling opportunities, mini-pupillages, work experience, and mentoring by barristers in their preferred area of practice.
It now falls to students to advocate their own cases for why they should be part of the March cohort. The bar course provider has asked students to provide “compelling reason(s)” as to why they should not be deferred. Options include: a pupillage commencing in September 2025, holding an Inns of Court scholarship, accommodation arrangements that have already been signed, and leaving employment to commence the course.
One frustrated bar student told Legal Cheek that the ICCA is effectively deferring some students “by force” and that the oversubscription will leave them “stranded” midway through their studies.
The email seeks to reassure students, stating that “every request for enrolment in this cohort will be carefully examined by a panel, on a case-by-case basis. The aim is to accommodate as many students as possible, while ensuring the “extremely high” teaching standards that are integral to the ICCA are maintained.”
Anyone who does not submit reasons, or who is not prioritised for a place by the panel, will be entered into a “lottery” to secure any remaining places. Students will find out whether they have been given a spot or not next Thursday, only two and half weeks before the course is due to begin.
In a further email sent this morning and seen by Legal Cheek, dean of the college, Lynda Gibbs KC, congratulated students on the “stellar set of results”, before adding that it never “wanted to be in a position of having to impede a student’s progression”.
“We have explored every avenue to extend the number of places on Part Two for March and we are acutely aware of the disappointment and anxiety that the recent communications have caused,” she said.
“Please be assured that we will do all we can to support you all as comprehensively as we can over the coming weeks and months,” Gibbs KC added.
The ICCA has been approached for comment.
Update: Thursday, 13 February at 2:28pm
In an email seen by Legal Cheek, the ICCA has confirmed that “all students who wish to start in March 2025 can do so”, and so no students have been involuntarily deferred. It is not known if or how many students voluntarily deferred their places in order to receive the perks offered above.
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