English tests for trainee lawyers

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More rigorous English language testing is required for overseas students who want to train as barristers, a Bar Council report states.

The body, which represents lawyers in England and Wales, said most, if not all, law schools accept foreign students with a poor grasp of English.

The one-year Bar course is well regarded abroad and a large number of overseas students apply to complete it.

The report's overall aim is to ensure entry to the Bar is based on merit.

The report's author, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, said the profession has work to do if it is to improve access to the Bar for students from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

'Significant disincentives'

"There is a perception that the Bar is only open to the more privileged," he wrote. "Many from less fortunate backgrounds are put off from even considering a career at the Bar."

In his report, Lord Neuberger raises the possibility of a standardised entry exam for the Bar Vocational Course (BVC).

The course is a post-graduate requirement for all potential barristers and the report found that "most, if not all" schools offering it accept students without sufficient English skills.

Entry to the course is currently based on undergraduate grades.

The recommendations form part of 57 made in the report, carried out in consultation with representatives from across the profession as well as lay people.

The cost and the risk of entry procedures and training represent further significant disincentives, particularly to those who are less financially well-off and socially advantaged Lord Neuberger

The report states that access based solely on merit is hampered by the £13,000 cost of participating in a BVC, given that successful completion does not guarantee a "pupillage", or barrister traineeship.

As it stands, there are more applicants than pupillage places available.

"The cost and the risk of entry procedures and training represent further significant disincentives, particularly to those who are less financially well-off and socially advantaged," the report states.

Lord Neuberger called for government, legal chambers and other employers who rely on a steady supply of qualified barristers to pool their resources and create more places to train successful BVC students.

He also urged more part-time pupillages be arranged.

His recommendations also include plans for a national curriculum-based introduction to the legal profession and a school placement scheme.

Geoffrey Vos, chairman of the Bar Council, welcomed the report, saying: "This is a tremendous step forward in our campaign to ensure that the Bar is a profession accessible to talented people from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds."