From law undergraduate to professional practice

contributors | abstract | presentation | biographies | session report

Contributors

Baroness Ruth Deech (Chair, Bar Standards Board)
Derek Wood QC (Chiar, Pupillage Review Working Group of the Bar Standards Board)
Dr John Carrier (Chair, Bar Standards Board, Education & Training Committee)
Dr Valerie Shrimplin (Head of Education Standards, Bar Standards Board)

Format

Paper presentation and discussion forum

Abstract

As indicated by the thoroughness with which the reviews of the Bar Course and pupillage were carried out, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) continues to consider that effective legal education and training is vital to ensure that candidates acquire all the necessary skills, knowledge and competences to practice at the Bar of England and Wales. Progression from law undergraduate studies, through the postgraduate vocational stage to pupillage and beyond should be seen as stages of a single run- through process, whilst bearing in mind that not all students will progress to professional training and practice.

The transition from legal undergraduate studies to practice is challenging, and poses a number of questions for debate:

• Should undergraduate legal education be (as it largely is at present) a broad liberal education, fitting students for many futures other than professional legal practice?
• How best can undergraduate studies also lay the foundation for further study and training at the postgraduate (vocational) and practice (pupillage) stages – as well as serving the function of an academic liberal arts study?
• What should be the focus of undergraduate degrees on the one hand, and postgraduate professional qualifications on the other (e.g. jurisprudence, legal philosophical understanding, public law, administrative law)?
• Do students who study law as a first degree at university make better lawyers than those who pursue another route and then take the conversion course? * Should the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) be offered mainly in universities, since this is likely to be more economical for both providers and students?
• Should the BPTC lead to a Master’s degree?
• To what extent should students learn to be a lawyer on a course and/or by actually learning ‘on job’ (e.g. as a pupil)? * How might legal education have to change in a new legal environment resulting from the Legal Services Act 2007 (with the introduction of legal disciplinary partnerships and alternative business structures)?
• Should the BPTC and the LPC merge in the light of new ways of delivering legal services, and of new structures that are now permitted?

The opportunity will be provided in this session for members of the audience to indicate their views and concerns about the changing scene for legal training. In particular, opinions will be invited about the possibilities relating to new structures and changing relationships between branches of the legal profession.

Presentation

This presentation supports the session report.

Short biographies of panel members

Baroness Ruth Deech is Chair of the Bar Standards Board. She lectured in Law at Oxford University for many years before being elected Principal of St Anne’s College 1991-2004., and is now Gresham Professor of Law. She has extensive experience of regulatory bodies, having served as Chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (1994-2002), a Governor of the BBC (2002-2006) and as the first Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (2004-08). She is an independent member of the House of Lords.

Derek Wood QC is a member of Falcon Chambers. He was called to the Bar in 1964 and specialises in property litigation. He was appointed a QC in 1978 and has sat as a Recorder and Deputy High Court Judge. He is a Bencher of the Middle Temple and was Treasurer in 2006, and he was awarded the CBE for services to property law in 1995. He was Principal of St Hugh’s College Oxford from 1991 to 2002. He chaired the major BSB reviews on the Bar Course and pupillage and is currently leading the BSB Review of CPD.

Dr John Carrier is a lay member of the Bar Standards Board, and Chair of the BSB Education & Training Committee. He has had a long career in academic life and public service. He has taught and researched at the London School of Economics and Political Science for over 40 years. His main teaching and research interests and publications have been in the fields of health and social policy. He was also a JP in the 1980’s. He has recently retired as Dean of Graduate Studies at the LSE, and is currently Chair of The Camden Primary Care Trust.

Dr Valerie Shrimplin is Head of Education Standards at the Bar Standards Board (since January 2007). She has extensive experience of the management of quality and standards in education, especially national and international QA systems and practices in universities and professional bodies. She is also particularly interested in the maintenance of standards in the context of widening participation and diversity in universities and the professions.

Last Modified: 11 February 2011