The Bar Council has submitted its response to the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) consultation on amending the definition of academic legal training and has opposed three out of four of the BSB’s proposed reforms, including the removal of the requirement for a minimum 2:2 degree as a standard.

Chair of the Bar Council, 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.

“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.”

Key figures:

According to the BSB’s Annual Report on Bar Training 2023, published in December, the number of enrolments on the Bar training course was 2,360, an increase from 2,308 the previous year. 

638 pupillages were advertised through the Pupillage Gateway, our recruitment portal, in 2022/23, according to the Bar Council’s Pupillage Gateway report.  

Key points from the consultation: 

  • The Bar Council is broadly neutral on the first BSB proposal about changing the definition of academic legal training.
  • The further three BSB proposals are objected to by the Bar Council because they would lower standards, make the assessment of standards difficult and transfer decisions away from the BSB to Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOS) who are not accountable and have a vested financial interest.
  • The Bar Council asserts that the BSB should continue to set the qualification requirements, retain decision-making powers regarding qualifications and make decisions about exemptions or equivalent qualifications.
  • We maintain that the current minimum thresholds and equivalent qualifications standards should remain unchanged. The existing requirements should continue to apply to be able to progress to the vocational stage of training because it is highly indicative of successful outcomes for prospective barristers. The current minimum threshold is the equivalent of a British Bachelor (Honours) degree awarded at a standard at least equivalent to a lower second-class Honours degree conferred in England and Wales.

Read the Bar Council’s response to the consultation and the BSB’s Consultation on proposed amendments to the definition of Academic Legal Training and related exemptions.