Could an Inn-run BPTC be next?
The Council of the Inns of Court (COIC), the education charity mostly funded by the four Inns, has today unveiled its new “College of Advocacy”, which will focus on the education and training of barristers across England and Wales.
The Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA), to give it its full title, will provide “leadership”, “expertise” and “guidance” in both advocacy and professional ethics.
Headed up by Falcon Chambers’ Derek Wood CBE QC, the new charity-backed college will provide “education and training materials” delivered both online and through the Inns and circuits, while also promoting the wider reputation of the bar of England and Wales.
The ICCA will build on the success of the Advocacy Training Council (ATC), which, among other things, helps ‘train the trainers’ in advocacy, such as on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC).
Commenting on the new college, Wood QC said:
I am delighted that COIC has established this new College of Advocacy to continue and expand the important work of the Advocacy Training Council. This again affirms the commitment of the Inns of Court to high standards of training in the practice and ethics of court advocacy.
This latest move by the Inns of Court will do nothing to quash rumours that they are preparing to launch their own BPTC.
Last summer Lincoln’s Inn unveiled plans to create an ambitious three-storey library and underground education bunker (pictured below). Denying that the bunker would be home to a new law school, a spokesperson for the Inn at the time said it would provide a place to undertake “advocacy training for students, pupils and barristers.”
With “colleges” and “councils” slowly edging onto BPTC turf, Legal Cheek surmises it might not be long before the Inns of Court law school, last seen in 2001 before it became part of City University, is back once again.