The Bar Professional Training Course or BPTC is a postgraduate course which allows law graduates to be named and practise as barristers in England and Wales. The eight institutes that run the BPTC along with the four prestigious Inns of Court are often collectively referred to as Bar School. Until September 2010, it was known as the Bar Vocational Course, or BVC.[1]
The BPTC is currently one of the most expensive legal courses in Europe.[2]
The academic stage is the first of the three stages of legal education; the second is the vocational stage (the BPTC) and the third is the practical stage (pupillage). On successful completion of the BPTC, which also involves completing twelve qualifying sessions, students are called to the Bar; however, only those who have successfully completed pupillage can work as barristers.[3][4]
- ^ "Amendments to the Bar Training Regulations – Matters relating to Pupillage" (PDF). Legal Services Board. 21 March 2011.
- ^ Cownie, Fiona (2010). Stakeholders in the Law School. Hart Publishing. p. 267. ISBN 978-1841137216.
- ^ Adam Kramer (2007). Bewigged and Bewildered: Pupillage and a Career at the Bar. Hart Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84113-651-6.
- ^ Croft, Janes (7 April 2015). "Bar weighs option of breaking up barristers' training". The Financial Times. Retrieved 14 August 2015.