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Barrister apprenticeships – shortly to provide the fourth pathway to the Bar – are an ideal opportunity to support local talent and ‘grow your own’, say Tim Coulson and Dr Jane Dennehy
In medieval times, before the Inns of Court were established, aspiring barristers were informally apprenticed to experienced practitioners to learn their profession, with pupils effectively paying their master for the privilege. Over the centuries, the term ‘pupillage’ has held fast amid the many and varied developments to standardise and oversee legal scholarship and professional education.
Since the 1970s, however, the process for becoming a barrister in England and Wales has generally been static – a law degree (or postgraduate law course), then a vocational training course followed by competition for pupillage.
That picture is potentially set to change with the barrister apprenticeship – a fourth route to the Bar. Formally approved by the professional and government regulators, the call for training providers and employers opened in April this year.
Once individual programmes are approved, which the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has indicated will take about six months, the recruitment of barrister apprentices can begin.
The possibility of an apprenticeship pathway was first raised, very much in passing, in the BSB’s 2016 Future Bar Training consultation. The idea captured the imagination of a founding member of the Barrister Apprenticeship Trailblazer Group (TBG), who spent the following years exploring the opportunity and developing a vision for what such a pathway could look like.
In 2022, the TBG was formed by a group of prospective employers from chambers and the employed Bar to meet the requirements of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to establish the apprenticeship. The group is supported by academic and vocational training providers, as well as key stakeholders including the Inns of Court, the BSB and the Bar Council.
In December 2024, the IfATE (now Skills England, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions), published the Barrister Apprenticeship Standard. Produced in conjunction with the BSB, the standard sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviours to become a successful practising barrister in England and Wales. It is a Level 7 qualification, equivalent to a master’s degree.
The barrister apprenticeship has been carefully designed to sit equally alongside the three existing pathways: the traditional three-step path (degree, Bar course, pupillage), the four-step path where the Bar course is split into two parts, and a combined academic and vocational path.
The BSB will oversee the requirements for apprentices and training providers and will be the end-point assessor to ensure consistent standards across all four qualification routes.
In short, whichever route is taken to qualify as a barrister, the BSB has clarified that the outcome will be the same – a barrister who has received high-quality training to develop competency in all the areas set out in the Professional Statement to at least the threshold standard.
The Barrister Apprenticeship Standard also requires knowledge of the ‘business of law’, an understanding of the organisational systems which support the delivery of a professional service – from financial planning and budgeting to contracts and billing, business development and risk management, to cybersecurity and data management.
In 2025, after cuts were announced for many Level 7 apprenticeships, TBG secured government funding of up to £27,000 to cover training and assessment costs for new starters under 21.
By removing the financial burden associated with university and professional training fees, the apprenticeship has the potential to widen access to the profession and attract a more diverse pool of talent. It offers aspiring barristers the opportunity to earn while they learn, developing their careers within the communities they wish to serve.
For employers, from small regional chambers to large national organisations, the apprenticeship creates an exciting opportunity to work in partnership with training providers to design and deliver tailored programmes, and to play a more active role in ensuring barristers develop the skills, knowledge and practical experience to build sustainable and successful careers.
Since the government launched the first set of industry-designed degree apprenticeships in 2015, the rebooted apprenticeship model has proved to be a highly successful and competitive pathway to qualification. The Sunday Times started publishing the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer rankings in 2020.
Support for the apprenticeship route to legal practice has existed for well over a decade, with interest growing as other branches of the profession have adopted the pathway and evidenced its worth. Solicitor apprenticeships, for example, have been active since 2016. While starting in small ‘high street’ solicitor firms, they are now available in magic circle firms and law departments of organisations.
Until 18 months ago, the idea of a barrister apprenticeship was subject to some unhelpful misrepresentation, ranging from accusations that such a pathway could be termed ‘barrister light’ to suggestions that whatever the intentions of the Legal Services Act 2007, the new route would undoubtedly result in a lowering of standards.
However, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has revealed that apprentice solicitors scored significantly higher and achieved significantly higher pass rates in SQE2 than non-apprentice candidates – in all but the April 2025 assessments. According to the SRA’s Solicitors Qualifying Examination Report on Apprentice Performance, 97% of apprentices passed SQE2 in April 2023 compared to 75% of non-apprentice candidates.
There are many motivations for developing an apprenticeship route to the Bar and, given that each individual apprenticeship programme will be necessarily unique, these will vary according to each apprentice employer:
It has long been held that barristers are the best people to bring on the next generation of barristers. Collaboration between barristers, management and staff to identity, recruit and train barrister apprentices has the potential to grow ‘well-rounded’ and highly competent barristers, identify talent which might otherwise be lost to the Bar, and generate a significant return on investment.
Next steps: Any organisation interested in developing an apprenticeship or participating in the discussions regarding implementation should contact the TBG (email: tim.coulson@cornwallstreet.co.uk; jane@lawincubator.co.uk).
Tim Coulson is CEO of Cornwall Street Chambers and Chair of the Barrister Apprenticeship Trailblazer Group.
Dr Jane Dennehy is an expert in organisational development and gender equality in the legal sector. She initiated the formation of the Barrister Apprenticeship Trailblazer Group in 2022 and is committed to barrister apprenticeships.
In medieval times, before the Inns of Court were established, aspiring barristers were informally apprenticed to experienced practitioners to learn their profession, with pupils effectively paying their master for the privilege. Over the centuries, the term ‘pupillage’ has held fast amid the many and varied developments to standardise and oversee legal scholarship and professional education.
Since the 1970s, however, the process for becoming a barrister in England and Wales has generally been static – a law degree (or postgraduate law course), then a vocational training course followed by competition for pupillage.
That picture is potentially set to change with the barrister apprenticeship – a fourth route to the Bar. Formally approved by the professional and government regulators, the call for training providers and employers opened in April this year.
Once individual programmes are approved, which the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has indicated will take about six months, the recruitment of barrister apprentices can begin.
The possibility of an apprenticeship pathway was first raised, very much in passing, in the BSB’s 2016 Future Bar Training consultation. The idea captured the imagination of a founding member of the Barrister Apprenticeship Trailblazer Group (TBG), who spent the following years exploring the opportunity and developing a vision for what such a pathway could look like.
In 2022, the TBG was formed by a group of prospective employers from chambers and the employed Bar to meet the requirements of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to establish the apprenticeship. The group is supported by academic and vocational training providers, as well as key stakeholders including the Inns of Court, the BSB and the Bar Council.
In December 2024, the IfATE (now Skills England, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions), published the Barrister Apprenticeship Standard. Produced in conjunction with the BSB, the standard sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviours to become a successful practising barrister in England and Wales. It is a Level 7 qualification, equivalent to a master’s degree.
The barrister apprenticeship has been carefully designed to sit equally alongside the three existing pathways: the traditional three-step path (degree, Bar course, pupillage), the four-step path where the Bar course is split into two parts, and a combined academic and vocational path.
The BSB will oversee the requirements for apprentices and training providers and will be the end-point assessor to ensure consistent standards across all four qualification routes.
In short, whichever route is taken to qualify as a barrister, the BSB has clarified that the outcome will be the same – a barrister who has received high-quality training to develop competency in all the areas set out in the Professional Statement to at least the threshold standard.
The Barrister Apprenticeship Standard also requires knowledge of the ‘business of law’, an understanding of the organisational systems which support the delivery of a professional service – from financial planning and budgeting to contracts and billing, business development and risk management, to cybersecurity and data management.
In 2025, after cuts were announced for many Level 7 apprenticeships, TBG secured government funding of up to £27,000 to cover training and assessment costs for new starters under 21.
By removing the financial burden associated with university and professional training fees, the apprenticeship has the potential to widen access to the profession and attract a more diverse pool of talent. It offers aspiring barristers the opportunity to earn while they learn, developing their careers within the communities they wish to serve.
For employers, from small regional chambers to large national organisations, the apprenticeship creates an exciting opportunity to work in partnership with training providers to design and deliver tailored programmes, and to play a more active role in ensuring barristers develop the skills, knowledge and practical experience to build sustainable and successful careers.
Since the government launched the first set of industry-designed degree apprenticeships in 2015, the rebooted apprenticeship model has proved to be a highly successful and competitive pathway to qualification. The Sunday Times started publishing the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer rankings in 2020.
Support for the apprenticeship route to legal practice has existed for well over a decade, with interest growing as other branches of the profession have adopted the pathway and evidenced its worth. Solicitor apprenticeships, for example, have been active since 2016. While starting in small ‘high street’ solicitor firms, they are now available in magic circle firms and law departments of organisations.
Until 18 months ago, the idea of a barrister apprenticeship was subject to some unhelpful misrepresentation, ranging from accusations that such a pathway could be termed ‘barrister light’ to suggestions that whatever the intentions of the Legal Services Act 2007, the new route would undoubtedly result in a lowering of standards.
However, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has revealed that apprentice solicitors scored significantly higher and achieved significantly higher pass rates in SQE2 than non-apprentice candidates – in all but the April 2025 assessments. According to the SRA’s Solicitors Qualifying Examination Report on Apprentice Performance, 97% of apprentices passed SQE2 in April 2023 compared to 75% of non-apprentice candidates.
There are many motivations for developing an apprenticeship route to the Bar and, given that each individual apprenticeship programme will be necessarily unique, these will vary according to each apprentice employer:
It has long been held that barristers are the best people to bring on the next generation of barristers. Collaboration between barristers, management and staff to identity, recruit and train barrister apprentices has the potential to grow ‘well-rounded’ and highly competent barristers, identify talent which might otherwise be lost to the Bar, and generate a significant return on investment.
Next steps: Any organisation interested in developing an apprenticeship or participating in the discussions regarding implementation should contact the TBG (email: tim.coulson@cornwallstreet.co.uk; jane@lawincubator.co.uk).
Barrister apprenticeships – shortly to provide the fourth pathway to the Bar – are an ideal opportunity to support local talent and ‘grow your own’, say Tim Coulson and Dr Jane Dennehy
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