Solicitors swing behind Neuberger's controversial Bar diversity drive
A survey of senior partners has uncovered strong support from solicitors for a raft of measures designed to open up the Bar to people from less privileged backgrounds.
April 25, 2007 at 08:10 PM
3 minute read
A survey of senior partners has uncovered strong support from solicitors for a raft of measures designed to open up the Bar to people from less privileged backgrounds.
In the latest Legal Week/EJ Legal Big Question survey, 75% of respondents said they believed the Bar fell short of its goal of being open to everyone; irrespective of their background, ethnicity, age, gender and disability.
Respondents gave strong backing to a series of proposals set out by a working party on entry to the Bar, which is led by Lord Justice Neuberger.
Unusually, 100% of respondents backed a proposal to require chambers to inform students of the outcome of their pupillage applications before they are required by Bar schools to commit to paying for the Bar Vocational Course (BVC).
An overwhelming majority of respondents (91%) also agreed with the proposal that BVC providers should publish the numbers of pupillage and tenancies their graduates obtain, while 82% of respondents supported voluntary aptitude tests for would-be BVC students to help them gauge their chances of becoming barristers.
A proposal to raise the academic standard required to win a BVC place also received strong backing (73%), although support for a cap on the number of BVC places was less clear cut, with 55% of respondents backing the idea.
Commenting on the findings, Pump Court chief executive Carolyn McCombe said her set already notified candidates of their pupillage applications before they had to commit to the BVC, claiming it was one of the set's selling points.
She added: "What I find outrageous is that BVC course providers take money from kids who have no prospects of becoming barristers and will not even get near a pupillage."
Ian Gatt QC, a founding member of Herbert Smith's advocacy unit, said an aptitude test would be a good way for would-be barristers to discover if they were cut out for the Bar.
"A desire to train needs to be matched by an ability to do so," he told Legal Week. "An aptitude test will allow people to evaluate their own ability and make more informed decisions."
Charles Hollander QC of Brick Court Chambers said: "I am in favour of BVC providers not taking money off people until they know if they have gained pupillage. However, those with a non-law background could be discriminated against if this measure required chambers to bring the date forward. We have been very keen to wait for [Common Professional Examination] results otherwise how could chambers select students who have had hardly any experience in the study of law?"
Neuberger's working party issued its consultation paper on access to the Bar last month (5 April). Its final recommendations are expected to be published later this year.
Talkback: Click here to join the diversity debate – a Talkback Special.
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