barristers Flashcards
what are barristers
Barristers provide specialist legal advice and represent their clients in courts and tribunals. Barristers’ work varies considerably depending on the area of law they practise in, and their seniority.
what is needed to join the bar ‘group of barristers’
a law degree or the graduate diploma in law (GDL)
all students also have to pass the bar professional training course
what is studied in the bar professional training course
case preparation
opinion writing (giving written advice) and legal research
drafting documents such as claim forms
conference skills such as interviewing clients
advocacy (speaking in court)
knowledge which includes civil litigation, criminal litigation, sentencing and evidence
what is pupilage
after a student has passed the bar professional training course there is ‘on the job’ training where the trainee barrister becomes a pupil to a qualified barrister. This effectively involves ‘work shadowing’ that barrister, and can be with the same barrister for 12 months or with two different pupil supervisor’s for 6 months each.
what are the 3 main problems of the training process
financial problem
entry requirements/specific degree
over supply and amount of pupils for pupillage available
explain the financial problem of pupilage
students will normally have to pay the fees of the bar proffesional training course(around 15,000) The result is that students from less well-off families cannot afford to becoming barristers. If they have a degree in a subject other than law and have had to do the GDL, they will also have had to pay for that course. Also as universities have increased their fees to 90,000 a year, meaning most students are already in debt
describe the specific degree/entry requirements problem
Another critism is that non law graduates do only one year of formal law for the GDL. The Ormrod Comittee which reported on legal education in 1971 thought that the main entry route should be via a law degree, but in practipant
