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Here's our suggested timetable for recruitment to the Bar. By all means draw up a timetable of your own, but if you do, make sure you're clued up about closing dates for the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), formerly the Bar Vocational Course, and pupillage applications. Worth noting is that the online application system for pupillages changed in March 2009 from the old OLPAS system to the new Pupillage Portal (www.pupillages.com). Confusingly, the site still refers to OLPAS and non-OLPAS chambers to mean those that are part of the centralised system and those that are not. It is still a centralised system but the timetable has changed. Now, as a rule of thumb, you should apply for pupillage 18 months before you wish to start - that is, in March 2010 for a pupillage beginning in September 2011. Most chambers recruit just one year ahead. First-year law and second-year non-law students Winter vacation and spring term Research and apply for work placement schemes in chambers (known as 'mini-pupillages') for your summer holiday. Try to arrange a few stints in different chambers to give you an overview of the various work areas, unless you're unusually keen to specialise in one particular work area. Remember that without work experience, any application for pupillage is unlikely to be taken seriously. Work experience will not only give you a stronger CV, but also help you decide whether law really is the career for you. Second-year law and final-year non-law students Autumn term Look into funding possibilities for postgraduate training (eg, local education authority grants and scholarships given by Inns). Check closing dates. Winter vacation and spring term Attend careers fairs (including pupillage fairs). Non-law degree students will need to apply for the conversion course, the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). The closing date is usually some time in February. Applications must be made through the Central Applications Board (www.lawcabs.ac.uk). Summer vacation Look at the different BPTC providers and investigate the application procedure. Final-year law and GDL students Autumn term The centralised BPTC application system usually opens in November and closes in January. After offers have been made and accepted or rejected, a clearance round opens at the beginning of April and closes in July. You can check the dates and apply at www.barprofessionaltraining.co.uk. Spring term Applications for pupillage can now be made through the Pupillage Portal (www.pupillages.com). It opens in March and closes at the end of April. You can apply to up to 12 OLPAS chambers, plus make one 'clearing' application. You can apply to as many non-OLPAS chambers as you like, but with no centralised system for these, deadlines will vary so you must check chambers' individual websites for details. Summer term Obtain a certificate for completion of the academic stage of legal training. BPTC year If you were unsuccessful in your pupillage applications last year, apply again this year in the same way as above. Once you have successfully completed the BPTC, you will be called the Bar by your Inn. Pupillage Pupillage is one year spent in an authorised pupillage training organisation (either barristers' chambers or another approved legal environment), usually split into two six-month periods referred to as 'sixes'. First six Second six Continuing professional development Barristers must complete a set programme of compulsory ongoing training. Continuing professional development (CPD) covers advocacy, case preparation and procedure, professional conduct and ethics, and accounting. In your first three years of practice, you’ll fall under the new practitioners’ programme in which you’ll have to fulfil 45 hours of CPD. Then, in the established practitioners’ programme, you’ll have to do 12 hours per year. CPD activities include attending courses directly relevant to practice, teaching law on undergraduate courses and writing law books or publications. |
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