Bar Professional Training Course

The Bar Professional Training Course (Bar Vocational Course or BVC prior to the 2010-2011 academic year) is a graduate course that is completed by those wishing to be called to the Bar, i.e. to practise as a barrister in England and Wales. The ten institutes that run the BPTC along with the four Inns of Court are often collectively referred to as 'Bar School'.

This vocational stage is the second of the three stages of legal education, the first being the academic stage and the third being the practical stage, i.e., pupillage. Only those who have successfully completed the course can practise as a Barrister.

Entry requirements

The minimum entry requirements for the BPTC is a qualifying law degree with no less than lower second class (2:2) honours, or a degree in another subject with no less than 2:2 honours in addition to a pass in the Graduate Diploma in Law. Applicants for the BPTC should also demonstrate excellent extracurricular activities. Additionally, a suitable candidate should provide strong evidence of a commitment to the English Bar. It is important for a student to have Common law reasoning and EU law as subjects during their course of studies as LLB students. Such decision should be made as soon as a student wishes to start his LLB programme. Also students are required to send in their admission to their selected Bar by the end of their LLB second year. A student who is selected will be notified by the start of their third year.

In 2008/09:

• 2,540 students applied for the BVC,
• 1,749 received a place,
• 1,330 passed the BVC,
• 562 received pupillage,
• 497 gained tenancy.

As a result of the apparent over-supply of barristers, the Bar Standards Board recently considered four controversial proposals:

• Capping the number of BPTC places
• Deferring call until the completion of pupillage
• Raising the minimum entry standards to a 2:1 degree (implemented into some BPTC offering institutions)
• Mandating a minimum IELTS score of 7.5/9 in all individual component (speaking, reading, writing and listening) for foreign students (implemented into some BPTC offering institutions)

As of 2008, only two of these proposals have been able to find enough support to be implemented.

Fees for the BPTC are now between £12,000 and £16,000.

Course options

The course bridges the gap between academic study and the practical work of a barrister by teaching subjects with which a practising barrister will need to be familiar. Core modules include:

• Criminal Advocacy
• Civil Advocacy
• Drafting
• Opinion Writing
• Client Conferencing
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Criminal Litigation, Evidence and Sentencing
• Civil Litigation and Evidence
• Professional Conduct and Ethics
• Two optional modules (these vary from institute to institute)

Grading

Students successfully completing the course may be awarded the overall grade of “Outstanding”, “Very Competent” or “Competent”.

• To gain the award of “Outstanding” a candidate must have passed all assessments at the first attempt and must achieve either an overall mark of 85% or above, or six or more grades in the outstanding category.

• To gain the award of “Very Competent” a candidate must have failed no more than one assessment at the first attempt and must achieve either an overall mark 70% or eight or more grades in the very competent or outstanding categories.

• To gain the award of “Competent” a candidate must pass each assessment subject to the rules governing the opportunity to re-sit at 60% or higher.

Providers

BPTC Providers

Institution	Location	Circuit	Approx. course fees	Report	Website
BPP Law School	London	South Eastern	£16,885	Report	BPP
BPP Law School	Leeds	Northern	£13,785	Report	BPP
BPP Law School	Manchester	Northern	£13,785	First intake Sept 2013	BPP
University of the West of England	Bristol	Western	£12,500	Report	BILP
Cardiff University	Cardiff	Wales & Chester	£12,180	Report	Cardiff
Nottingham Trent University	Nottingham	Midland Circuit	£13,000	Report	Nottingham
The College of Law	London	South Eastern	£16,485	Report	CoL
The College of Law	Birmingham	Midland Circuit	£12,435	Report	CoL
City Law School (formerly ICSL)	London	South Eastern	£16,500	Report	City
Manchester Metropolitan University	Manchester	Northern	£12,500	Report	MMU
Northumbria University	Newcastle upon Tyne	North Eastern	£12,350	Report	Northumbria
Kaplan Law School	London	South Eastern	£16,150	Report	Kaplan

See also

• Law Society of England and Wales
• Bar Council
• List of areas of law

External links

• Table of BPTC providers and their fees
• BPTC provider reports