While diversity is improving and the barristers’ profession is becoming more transparent about diversity data, it still falls short of representing the demographic of the society it serves, the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) report on Diversity at the Bar 2020 shows.

In a sweep of BPTC related news, the Bar Standards Board has published statistics about students and providers of the BPTC, revealed changes to the centralised BPTC exams and deferred the Bar Course Aptitude Test until at least March 2016. 

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) will scrap the Bar course aptitude test (BCAT) despite opposition from the Bar Council.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) will take a ‘tougher stance’ on chambers that fail to disclose how they calculate their fees.

The Bar Standards Board has questioned the appropriateness of allowing wannabe barristers more than a single attempt at passing the soon-to-be-implemented Bar course aptitude test.

The Bar Standards Board will host a debate on the different options for training and qualifying as a barrister set out in its Future Bar Training Consultation. 

The Bar Standards Board is set to look at whether there are “unjustified and discriminatory barriers to pupillage” at the advertising and recruitment stage.

The Bar Standards Board has decided to regulate advocacy-focused alternative business structures, legal disciplinary practices and barrister-only entities.

The Bar Standards Board is set to introduce an aptitude test which wannabe barristers must pass to gain admission to the BPTC.

Despite pressure from students, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) will not reinstate spring Bar Professional Training Course exams. The regulator said it would be impossible to create a “suitable, secure alternative” to in-person assessments by April.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) let down disabled candidates in the way that it conducted Summer 2020’s Bar course exams, in which breaks were prohibited and technical problems saw a quarter of candidates unable to complete their exams, an independent review has found.

A landmark High Court judgment has ruled that BT must block access to illegal file-sharing website Newzbin2; a website accused of operating "on a grand scale" by the Motion Picture Association.

BT has announced the launch of BT Law after becoming the latest famous brand to be granted an alternative business structure licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A new strategic partnership unveiled between BT and DWF could see in-house lawyers at the telecoms giant move across to work for DWF, a first for the international firm that recently floated on the stock market.

BT has declared an intention to enter the legal market, via its subsidiary BT Claims, which has applied to the SRA for an alternative business structure licence.

Another week, another bumper crop of commercial news to consider. If your ultimate plan is to succeed as a legal professional, an interest in the business world – and the world generally – is a must. As everyone digests the news that the Bank of England is again leaving interest rates where they are (with the Guardian reporting that some analysts have called Mark Carney an “unreliable boyfriend” due to his habit of changing his mind), here is a selection of other stories for your edification.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has contradicted suggestions from the top levels of the government that judges are politically biased and not truly independent.