Bar Council slams BSB’s “dilution” of barrister brand


BSB: training rule changes

The Bar Council has reacted with outrage to training reforms that it says would include automatically ‘passporting’ solicitors with rights of audience and academics through qualification as barristers, thus “diluting” the brand.

As its Future Bar Training project heads towards conclusion, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) consulted in July on new rules for its training framework, with the eight-week exercise ending this week.

In its response, the Bar Council warned that in practice the proposed changes would mean that a solicitor granted rights by the Solicitors Regulation Authority – which it claimed had “markedly less strict training requirements”, such as no pupillage – would be entitled to qualify as a barrister.

The Bar Council said: “It will unacceptably dilute the high standards rightly required of practising barristers; and it will provide an easy parallel route to the Bar for those practitioners who have failed the Bar’s entry and training requirements.”

It alleged a further rule change on partial exemptions was “scarcely better” in that it extended the exemption to many more with existing rights of audience, subject to an effective waiver of both the academic and vocational training elements, and also “if the BSB thinks fit”, pupillage.

It said: “It is easy to see that this will be attractive to solicitors who regard admission to the Bar as a badge of achievement, and who will recognise that this route to that badge is fundamentally less arduous than the route barristers currently take.

“It will swell the ranks of the Bar with those who will not have faced the same testing regime, and without giving the undiscerning public any means of distinguishing between the two at the point of instruction.”

The Bar Council objected to allowing any law teacher “of experience and academic distinction” an exemption from academic and legal vocational training. It said this right should not be automatic.

It complained too that a proposal to relax the requirement that a pupil must be individually supervised by a suitably qualified barrister, in the case of sets of chambers and other organisations, would “dilute pupil training”.

The response said: “We view this dilution of the vital work-based component of the pupil’s training as antithetical to the [regulatory objectives]…

“We urge the BSB to introduce appropriate safeguards, to ensure that this dilution does not take place.”

Tags:




Leave a Comment

By clicking Submit you consent to Legal Futures storing your personal data and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy and section 5 of our Terms & Conditions which deals with user-generated content. All comments will be moderated before posting.

Required fields are marked *
Email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog


Keeping the conversation going beyond Pride Month

As I reflect on all the celebrations of Pride Month 2024, I ask myself why there remains hesitancy amongst LGBTQ+ staff members about when it comes to being open about their identity in the workplace.


Third-party managed accounts: Your key questions answered

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has given strong indications that it is headed towards greater restrictions on law firms when it comes to handling client money.


Understanding vicarious trauma in the legal workplace

Vicarious trauma can happen to anyone who works with clients who have experienced trauma such as domestic or other violence, child abuse, sexual assault, torture or being a refugee.


Loading animation