‘Nearly four in 10 pupils have either personally experienced or observed bullying, harassment and/or discrimination (BHD), Bar Council research has revealed.’
Legal Futures, 4th April 2022
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The number of pupil barristers has rebounded after the pandemic sent it crashing, while women increasingly dominate the junior end of the Bar, new figures have shown.’
Legal Futures, 28th January 2022
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The High Court has rejected an appeal from a criminal law barrister suspended for six months by a Bar disciplinary tribunal for lewd comments to a female mini-pupil.’
Legal Futures, 25th January 2022
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
“My Chambers took part in this year’s Bar Council Pupillage Fair, which took place in the wake of reports highlighting the fact that the Criminal Bar is haemorrhaging members, with 11% of juniors reportedly having left criminal practice in the three years leading up to the Covid pandemic. There are, as yet, no statistics for falling retention rates during and as a result of the pandemic itself. No doubt they will represent a clear measure of the worsening state of our Criminal Justice System [CJS].”
Bar Council, 4th November 2021
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
‘The Bar Standards Board has warned that there could be “real challenges” ahead if the average age of barristers continues to rise, following a study which found that 40% of barristers are now over 50 years old.’
Law Society's Gazette, 15th October 2021
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Bar students should be given detailed information from chambers about their pupillage criteria to avoid suffering from “buyer’s remorse” when they realise how difficult it is to succeed, a barrister and former Bar course teacher has argued.’
Legal Futures, 15th October 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘There is a debate that perennially surfaces on social media and leads to animated discussion – “far too many students start the Bar course with little or no prospects of success; spending money they can ill afford; and that any given scholarship money could be used differently”. The debate can be stifled, or misdirected, by inaccurate statistics or recollections of a Bar course from a halcyon age. Fortunately, and in the best Twitter form, this debate also provides a whole host of suggested solutions.’
Counsel, October 2021
Source: www.counselmagazine.co.uk
‘Candidates from Black backgrounds are much less likely than other candidates to secure a pupillage, a report from the Bar Council has found.’
Legal Futures, 5th October 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Over a third of aspiring barristers expect to have racked up over £40,000 of debt by the time they complete pupillage, as the number of applicants competing for jobs continues to rise.’
Law Society's Gazette, 1st October 2021
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘An employment tribunal has refused to strike out a claim that a chambers discriminated against a pupillage applicant even though it has “little reasonable chance” of succeeding.’
Legal Futures, 21st September 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Apprenticeships are a “viable option” to qualification as a barrister, but they would need collaboration between the Bar Standards Board, education providers and the Bar, a new paper has argued.’
Legal Futures, 9th September 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘A female victim of sexual assault by a male barrister has spoken about how she was let down by her chambers, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS)’
Legal Futures, 14th June 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘In April 2020, the Bar Council predicted that 80% of chambers would collapse within a year without urgent financial aid. More than a year on, the pandemic persists – as do the vast majority of chambers. Were the early warnings overblown, or is the future of the bar still at risk?’
Law Society's Gazette, 24th May 2021
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Chambers that fail to respond to unsuccessful applicants for pupillage – the great majority – have been urged to mend their ways, after a student claimed the practice “damages the integrity of the profession.”’
Law Society's Gazette, 31st March 2021
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘An experienced barrister who made crude sexual comments to a woman on a mini-pupillage has been suspended for six months and told not to take on pupils or mini-pupils in future.’
Legal Futures, 23rd March 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Almost a quarter of pupil barristers (23%) say they are experiencing “some financial hardship” during the pandemic, a survey by the Bar Council has found.’
Legal Futures, 18th March 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The Bar Council has warned that the pandemic could cause a “persisting” shortage of barristers, after the number of pupillages registered last year fell by 35%.’
Law Society's Gazette, 5th February 2021
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Covid has flattened the number of new practising barristers and hit pupillages hard, but there was a sharp rise in the proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds, new figures have shown.’
Legal Futures, 1st February 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘A not-for-profit “pupillage academy” that would support chambers across England and Wales to offer more pupillages has been proposed by national chambers Clerksroom.’
Legal Futures, 21st December 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Eight commercial chambers have signed up to a Bar Council scheme to fund criminal law pupillages that would otherwise not be available because of the Covid-19 pandemic.’
Legal Futures, 15th December 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
