The Bar Council may limit the number of places available on the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) and force course providers to reveal students' chances of gaining a pupillage as part of a shake-up of the profession's recruitment rules.

The proposals currently being considered by Lord Neuberger's working party, which is looking into access and diversity at the Bar, were unveiled in an interim report issued today (5 April).

Proposals include limiting BVC course places, reintroducing unfunded pupillages and requiring course providers to publish the number of pupillages and tenancies their graduates obtained for the previous five years.

The group will also consider controversial measures such as compulsory competency tests and a requirement for students to achieve a 2:1 degree as a means of restricting the number of students on the BVC.

Neuberger told Legal Week he believed the reforms could widen the profession's diversity, commenting: "People who are less privileged could do less well in competency tests as they may not have achieved their educational potential. However, it may be possible to design a test that would overcome this."

The Bar Council is attempting to resolve the problem posed by the fact that a growing number of BVC students are missing out on pupillages. Recent research showed there are only 550 pupillages available for the 1,800 people who pass the BVC each year. Many of the students also face debts of more than £20,000.

Chambers may now have to reveal whether a student has obtained a pupillage before they have to commit to the BVC. The working party also suggested the introduction of online BVC courses in conjunction with Open University-type distance learning.

The working party is now launching a consultation on the proposals. Responses are due by 31 May, with the group set to report its findings by the end of the year.

The proposals have received a mixed reaction. Old Square Chambers senior clerk John Taylor said: "A 2:1 seems like a fair benchmark." However, one senior member of a law school said: "If you reduce BVC places, you are going to cut down the prospects of diversity."

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