"Mini-pupillages are essential for getting a pupillage in the end and most sets would not look at a candidate without them," says Brick Court Chambers co-head Jonathan Hirst QC (pictured).

Following last year's creation of PRIME by a group of leading law firms the Bar in March announced its own bid to increase socio-economic diversity with the 'Pegasus Access Scheme'. The initiative is not a direct counter-point to PRIME as it is focused on forging a direct path to pupillage for under-graduates rather than raising aspiration by introducing relatively under-privileged school children to the legal profession.

Launched by the Inner Temple, the new scheme has seen 44 chambers commit to taking on a number of university students from disadvantaged backgrounds for mini-pupillages. These comprise work experience of between two and five days, travel and meal expenses included. A further seven chambers are set to sign-up imminently.

The scheme aims to address the barriers-to-entry that exist for those from less fortunate backgrounds trying to have a career at the Bar but failing to gain the relevant experience required for a pupillage.

Diversity statistics have notoriously been lacking from the Bar to date, however the Bar Standards Board compiled its first break-down report last year – known as the Bar Barometer – showing 24% of those taking pupillage in 2009-10 were from Oxford or Cambridge universities.

Of those pupils who declared that they had accumulated debts at university, almost 50% of pupils had debts of £10,000 or more and over 6% had debts in excess of £40,000.

The report also found that 52% of pupils in 2009-10 had attended state school compared with 35% from fee-paying schools and 13% who did not disclose.

Inner Temple sub-treasurer chief executive Patrick Maddams comments: "For candidates from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds, we found that one of the main barriers was work experience. Mini-pupillages are crucial for scholarship interviews and subsequent pupillage applications, so we have tried to recognise this."

Fountain Court's Patricia Robertson QC (pictured) comments: "Financial and socio-economic circumstances remain some of the most prevalent barriers to entry to a career at the Bar. In the past, people would perhaps view the Bar as a closed society of people whose parents had been lawyers or barristers, so they would enjoy a leg-up. I hope that has long ceased to be true now.

"The aim of schemes like this is to help those who might otherwise struggle financially to come to the Bar and to make sure that everyone can have access through the front door, no matter what their background."

While the Bar has already embarked on a number of schemes to try and improve access to the profession to date, these have largely centred on initiatives such as Pathways to Law and The Inner Temple Schools Project that focus on school children in the 14-18-year range.

The Pegasus Access Scheme will target second and third year university students, with some sets taking on first year students as well, with a specific aim to carry through the existing school initiatives to university level.

Candidates that have already been involved in one of the school schemes will be prioritised. However, Maddams emphasises that all applicants will be seriously considered for the programme.

He says: "We will look at applications holistically, with first priority given to those candidates that have come through from our schools scheme, however we will consider all applicants meeting certain academic criteria from under-represented backgrounds.

"We also want to prepare candidates as comprehensively as possible so that they can get the most out of the mini-pupillage experience, and will give them an induction session before they join the set."

The deadline for the first set of student applications falls this month when around 70 placements are likely to be offered, with around 100 placements expected in the full round in September. The placements will take place throughout the year.

According to top sets, current pupillage applicants are expected to have carried out a number of mini-pupillages – often around five – to be considered seriously with a range of sets considered favourable.

Hirst says: "It is of the utmost importance that anyone who is of the academic calibre to go to the Bar but does not have access to these schemes for socio-economic reasons, be recognised and aided. This does not mean changing the criteria or lowering the standards at all.

"We make it very clear that candidates will require at least a 2:1 degree grade, and really a high 2:1, to get a pupillage, but if the problem comes down to not having managed to gain access to the practical experience required this is definitely something that should, can and will be changed through schemes like Pegasus."

However, the extent to which Pegasus can make a serious dent in diversity at the Bar remains debatable. Current pressure on the publicly funded Bar and the gradual expansion of the amount of advocacy work taken on by solicitors has led to a much-publicised mis-match between the large numbers seeking pupillages and the 500-odd places on offer every year. With vocational law schools currently producing well over 1,000 BPTC graduates annually it remains far harder to secure a place at the Bar than it is to gain a solicitors training contract.

A series of reports on widening access to the Bar – there have been six since 1991 – have struggled to make much headway in dealing with the basic issue of boosting diversity in a sector with limited number of places and a huge supply of highly-qualified candidates. A best case scenario is that Pegasus will be one of a number of initiatives to carve out modest but valuable progress.

For more, see The agenda – sizing up the profession's efforts to tackle social diversity.

• Related: Forty-two chambers sign up to new Bar social mobility scheme