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A barristers’ chambers which offered an unfunded pupillage to a former police chief constable has lost its appeal against a Bar Standards Board decision that the move ran foul of equality rules designed to stop ‘rich kids’ from self-funding.

Applicants for pupillage who are white, male, attended a fee-paying school or Oxbridge, or have parents who are educated to degree level are all more likely to succeed than those without such characteristics, Bar Standards Board research has found.

More common training of would-be lawyers, sector-wide CPD, and scrapping the training contract and pupillage, are among the “more radical” options being considered by the Legal Education and Training Review, according to its first discussion paper, issued yesterday.

People aged 30 or over who choose to re-train as barristers are at a significant disadvantage to younger applicants, according to research from King’s College London. It also confirmed a continuing bias in favour of those with an Oxbridge education, but not gender.

Every chambers in England and Wales is to be quizzed on their approach to equality and diversity as part of a new monitoring scheme being rolled out by the Bar Standards Board. The 791 chambers (of which 391 are registered as sole practitioners) are also to face questions on how they handle complaints, their policies on pupillage, and compliance with anti-money laundering rules.