The Bar Standards Board (BSB) today (8 June) rejected controversial proposals by the Bar Council to defer calling junior barristers to the Bar until completion of their formal 12-month training.

The BSB rejected the plans after a 12-month consultation amid concerns that allowing individuals to refer to themselves as barristers immediately after completing the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) could be misleading for the general public.

However, the BSB said that the plans were "not an appropriate response" to the risk of misleading the public.

The BSB instead recommends a raft of changes to the present system, including an online register of all qualified barristers. Those undertaking pupillage would be referred to as 'trainee barristers'.

BSB chair Ruth Evans commented: "We found very little evidence that the existing protections in the Bar's Code of Conduct and the criminal law are not sufficient to protect the public from harm. Added to that, deferral of call would not, per se, remove the risk of misdescription."

She added: "[We] also take the view that deferring call could cause significant harm, by making the process of awarding the degree of 'barrister' less fair and transparent and by deterring non-UK students from qualifying as English barristers, with the cultural, academic and economic benefits that this brings."

The news underlines the increasingly strained relationship between the BSB and the Bar Council. Last month, the BSB voiced its opposition to proposals to limit the number of BVC places available as well as rejecting plans to increase the minimum academic requirement for BVC entry to a 2:1 degree.