IF YOU are planning to become a barrister then you would be well advised to qualify sooner rather than later. Radical plans to change the advocate’s qualification are in the pipeline so that any students commencing a degree course this autumn will face an additional challenge by the time they progress to their professional training.

Under the present, somewhat antiquated, system all that is needed to be deemed a barrister is completion of the Bar Vocational Course (BVC). But from September 2008 it will become mandatory to have completed a pupillage as well. And for hundreds of law students that is likely to spell trouble. Moreover, it could have a series of unexpected consequences for the profession as a whole and for London as a centre of legal training.

According to the Bar Council of England and Wales the reform is an overdue tidying-up exercise that will bring the Bar’s qualification into line with what is required of solicitors (and, indeed, many other professions) by supplementing the academic programme with a substantial period of supervised real-life experience.

The side-effect, though, may be a significant reduction in the number of people coming forward to study for the Bar and a narrowing of the diversity of the student body. The greatest falling off is likely to be among the ethnic minorities, “untraditional” backgrounds and from overseas.

As a result the Bar’s loss will be the solicitors’ gain, suggests Peter Crisp, of the law school BPP. “What’s the point of bothering with the uncertainty of becoming a barrister when you can become a solicitor and get higher rights of audience?” he asks. “Training as a barrister is expensive and fairly risky with more people seeking pupillages than there are available. One of the reassuring safety nets has always been that someone who has completed the

BVC but fails to find a pupillage can still benefit from the title when applying for posts elsewhere in the legal profession or in other careers. This will change. The impact could be that only those with private means or very supportive parents or partners will want to take the risk of undertaking the BVC programme.”

According to the present figures between 1,100 and 1,200 students pass the BVC in a typical year. Of these, just 700 will proceed into pupillage. Of the remaining 500, up to 250 may be from overseas and content to return home with the title barrister. The remaining 250 (or more) will need to apply their legal skills in some other capacity.

Once the rules change, however, the shortfall in the number of pupillages in relation to BVC graduates could become a massive deterrent to applicants. Overseas students will return home without a professional qualification to their name and UK students will be lodged in a part-qualified nether world. Almost inevitably the result will be a reduction in the number of applicants coming through the system.

As one insider commented the reform means that, “barristers chambers are taking control back (from the colleges) over access to the profession. It is a way of aligning supply and demand.”

In itself, this is probably a good thing. But the challenge for London, says Peter Kunzlik, the director-elect of City University’s Law Institute, is to retain its international status for advocacy training. “We can’t let London’s reputation as a world centre be undermined,” he says. “The fact that generations of Commonwealth lawyers have become barristers in London and gone on to practise at home has helped to make English legal values and thinking influential around the world. It would be very sad if that were lost.”

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