Non-law grads need to first complete the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) before taking the Bar Course. To enter practice, law grads need to complete the Bar Course (formerly known as the BPTC, now by different names at each provider) before starting a much sought-after year of pupillage at a barristers' chambers or other employer. To enter practice, law grads need to complete the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) before starting a much sought-after year of ‘pupillage’. ![]() Unlike employed barristers and solicitors, those at the independent Bar get no sickness pay, holiday pay, parental leave or monthly salary. A percentage of their earnings also goes to pay their clerks and administrators. Barristers do not work for their sets, just at their premises, and as ‘tenants’ they contribute to the upkeep of their chambers. To prevent independence from turning into isolation, barristers, like badgers, work in groups called 'sets', sharing premises and professional managers etc. The remainder are employed by companies, public bodies or law firms, and they make up ‘the employed Bar’. Of the UK’s 16,600 or so barristers, approximately 80% are self-employed. This is why you hear the expression ‘the independent Bar’. If you think a career as a barrister will allow you to rise above the rigours and scraping of modern-day capitalism, think again. Certainly, in the area of commercial law a barrister must understand the client’s perspective and use their legal knowledge to develop solutions that make business or common sense as well as legal sense. A solicitor will pay good money for ‘counsel’s opinion’. Solicitors value barristers’ detailed knowledge of the litigation process and their ability to assess and advise on the merits and demerits of a case. The Bar's professional body is the Bar Council, and it is regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB). As a point of interest, solicitor advocates do not wear the wig and gown and are referred to as ‘my friend’ rather than ‘my learned friend’. When it comes to more complicated and lengthy matters, barristers are usually still briefed to do the advocacy, not least because this is often the most cost-effective way of managing a case. This encroachment hasn’t been an utter disaster for the Bar, although solicitor advocates are handling more of the most straightforward cases. Solicitors can train to become accredited advocates in even the higher courts. It has been some time since barristers have had exclusive rights of audience in the courts though. Their style of argument must be clear and persuasive, both in court and on paper. By contrast, commercial barristers spend most of their time in chambers, writing tricky opinions and advising in conference on complicated legal points.īarristers must display the skill and clarity to make complex or arcane legal arguments accessible to lay clients, juries and the judiciary.īarristers must display the skill and clarity to make complex or arcane legal arguments accessible to lay clients, juries and the judiciary. Criminal barristers are in court most of the time, often with only an hour or two’s notice of the details of their cases. The proportion of time spent on each depends on the type of law the barrister practises. ![]()
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