Ministry of Justice announce funding for up to 100 criminal Bar pupillages
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced its plans to commit £1.5 million a year to fund up to 100 additional pupillages at the criminal Bar.
This is positive news for the Criminal Bar and hopefully a step in right direction in improving access to justice. An injection of funding like this, that helps sets take on another pupil, where they would previously only take on one should directly impact the future of the profession for the better.
The scheme runs alongside the Council of the Inns of Court's existing match-funding arrangement, but focuses on chambers whose work is mainly criminal legal aid. For criminal chambers, there is an opportunity to access their share of the available funding. This does, however, come with conditions that must be met, and the sets that benefit will be the ones prepared to meet them.
What the funding asks of chambers
The funding does comes with some basic requirements. Chambers that receive it are expected to show they are recruiting fairly, with real outreach to widen the pool of applicants and steps to bring more under-represented candidates into the profession. The MoJ will also collect data to see whether the scheme is doing what it set out to do.
The requirements set down by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) mean that anyone involved in taking on pupils, tenants, or staff to be trained in fair recruitment, and that chambers are able to demonstrate a compliant pupillage process.
Anyone who supervises a pupil has to complete supervisor training first, and refresh it every three to five years. For new pupils it is essential that they receive proper training from day one in all regulatory requirements and practical skills that they will draw on throughout their careers.
How Briefed helps chambers get pupil-ready
We help chambers and pupil supervisors prepare themselves for the arrival of their next cohort every year.
Our Pupillage Supervisor training meets BSB requirements and is written by our in-house barristers. It covers planning the pupillage, developing advocacy skills, giving effective feedback, supporting diversity, recognising wellbeing issues, and managing the real situations that arise during pupillage.
For pupils, the New Pupil Starter Pack pulls together 24 Bar-specific onboarding across compliance, AI, GDPR, cyber security, EDI and wellbeing, giving excellent foundational support for pupils. For chambers recruiting pupils, we offer Fair Recruitment and wider EDI training to help meet the equal opportunity commitments this funding requires. All training is delivered online 24/7 through the Briefed Academy to support flexible working.
If your chambers is planning to apply, or thinking about taking on more pupils, contact us via hello@getbriefed.com or call 028 9621 6345 and we will help you get your supervisors, your recruitment, and your pupil onboarding in order, so that when applications open you are in a position to make the most of it.