The majority of partners remain confirmed supporters of the commercial Bar but nearly one in three think it is set to shrink in coming years.

Eighty-one percent of respondents to the latest Legal Week/ EJ Legal Big Question survey said the commercial Bar had a long-term future, but just 19% anticipated it growing over the next 10 years, 52% expected it to stay the same size while 29% predicted it will shrink.

Three Verulam Buildings' Richard Salter QC said that some work that used to be taken to the courts was now being resolved through alternative forms of dispute resolution such as mediation. "Commercial litigation has reduced but, surprisingly, the number of large trials has gone up. We are not feeling a shortage of work, but on the other hand, it is not boom time," he said.

Richards Butler commercial disputes partner Michael Skrein thought it was difficult to tell whether the commercial Bar will shrink or grow, but commented: "There is a significant continued role for the Bar because of the highly developed advocacy skills its members have."

Confidence in the Bar is clearly apparent in the survey with a clear majority taking the view that the calibre of barristers practising at the commercial Bar remains high, with 64% describing them as 'good' and 26% describing them as 'excellent'.

However, the survey's findings suggest the perception of the Bar as an old boy's network, rather than a meritoc-racy, persist in some quarters.

The survey asked what advice respondents would give to a young relative with a good degree who wished to pursue a career at the Bar but lacked either family connections or parental financial support.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they would advise the relative to qualify as a solicitor with a view to possibly transferring to the Bar at a later stage, while 7% said they would advise them to pursue another career entirely. Fifty-two percent would advise the relative to go with their instinct and attempt to become a barrister.

The findings reflect the fact that a growing number of Bar students are failing to secure pupillages and therefore the holy grail of tenancy at a set of chambers. A Bar Council survey released last month showed that just 17.5% of Bar Vocational Course students who apply for pupillages are likely to secure a place.

Adrian Scotland, a solicitor at boutique Campbell Commercial, who originally trained as a barrister, said that very few of the students who completed his training course managed to secure pupillages. "The people who got pupillage generally had a history at the Bar and contacts such as their family being lawyers," he said. "It seems it is still an advantage if you have legal blood in you."

But Salter, who was himself a grammar school boy with no family connections, insisted the Bar has become more meritocratic and that it is making attempts to open itself up to people from non-traditional backgrounds.

Last month, the Bar Council set up a working party to devise a blueprint for improving access to the profession, led by Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Neuberger and members including Salter and Geoffrey Vos QC.

Salter added: "Only twice in my career have I come across somebody who looked down on me because of my background. These were both dinosaurs who are now long gone."