The publication this week of a survey of students on the Bar Vocational Course by the Bar Council has confirmed how difficult it is for aspiring barristers to even get their foot in the door. Of the 71.5% of students who applied for a pupillage during the period of the survey, well over half did not receive so much as a single interview.
You can get a sense of the frustration that is building up by reading some of the posts that have gone up in response to our report on the survey (see story). “There is mounting fury from an ever increasing student body that the promise of working at the Bar, while always competitive, is near impossible if you don’t fit the bill – even if you have the grades,” says one contributor.
