Barristers chambers should have more freedom over pupillage programmes, says BSB
updated on 13 March 2015
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has said that chambers should be put back in charge of pupillages.
The regulator has said that it should focus on outlining the essential knowledge and skills that barristers must have, but move away from prescribing their educational programmes, which it feels chambers and employers are best placed to design. Under the current system, the BSB must approve any pupillage which deviates from the standard format, so its new proposal could mark a major departure if consultations in the summer are successful.
Dr Simon Thornton Wood, the BSB’s director of education and training, said: "Pupillage is incredibly important in providing the next generation of the Bar with the exposure and expert advice they need to become barristers. At a time of great change across the profession, who better to design and deliver the pupillage experience to aspiring barristers than professionals themselves? Of course we must safeguard standards, but we’re not convinced that means we can’t introduce more freedom and flexibility into the system so that it continues to provide vital preparation for practice. And if this greater flexibility means that there can be more pupillages on offer, that is also a good move."
