Bar Practice Course (BPC)

Here's a list of the support you’ll receive from moment you accept your place until after you graduate:

CV starter pack

Sent as soon as you accept your place on our Bar Practice Course. This will be your guide to ensuring your CV is Bar-focussed.

Employability platform

From the moment you accept your place, you’ll be able to register with our employability platform to gain access to relevant job and work experience opportunities as well as event listings.

Pupillage health check

Once you accept your place, you’ll be invited to meet one of our Specialist Careers Advisors to review your CV and get strategic advice on future pupillage applications. This is followed by our preparing for the BPC workshop, which is a chance to hear from our Future Pupils.

Pro bono and advocacy Opportunities

Participate in our award-winning pro bono activities and test your skills in front of real barrister and judges at prestigious national and international advocacy competitions. We also run internal competitions and workshops, including mock trials in court.

One-to-one appointments

One-to-one appointments are available in person, by email, via Teams or Zoom. These can cover anything from general strategic advice to feedback on your applications, and mock interviews tailored to you.

Pupillage interview workshops

Prepare for pupillage interviews in groups of four with a Specialist Careers Advisor and BPC Lecturers ready to grill you.

Pupillage panel events

We run a range of events from practice-specific panels to How to Succeed at the Junior Bar, and our celebrated Pupillage Application Question Time and Pupillage Interview Question time events. We also run Bar networking events as well as events on the non-legal aspects of your practice such as taxes.

Bar Mailing List

A newsletter run buy Future Pupils that ensures students are kept up to date with relevant information on topics such as mini-pupillage openings, job opportunities, volunteering opportunities, pupillage application pointers, scholarship information and events.

Post BPC advice

Even if you obtain pupillage whilst you’re on the BPC, you are likely to have a year to fill before you start. We can help you with scholarships, internships, employment and further education decisions. You’ll have access to our careers service for 5 years after graduating.

• Civil litigation, evidence and resolution of disputes out of court
• Criminal litigation, evidence and sentencing

• Advocacy, including examination-in-chief, cross-examination and civil applications
• Conferencing
• Drafting
• Opinion writing
• Professional Ethics
• Legal Research

We give you as many opportunities as possible to hone your essential advocacy skills and put what you learn into practice:

• Participating in mock trials in real courtrooms with real judges and senior barristers
• Online advocacy skill demonstrations with feedback from practising barristers
• Visits to the High Court, Magistrate’s Court, Crown Court and County Courts

Choose to study this award and you will have the opportunity to add an internationally recognised LLM qualification to your CV and pupillage applications.

You can complete your Master of Laws (LLM) qualification via three routes:

1. Complete real-life work experience via our Pro Bono clinics - you will advise, manage and represent clients on a variety of cases in legal areas. You will also be paired with a Master’s Supervisor, who will guide you through a reflective learning process so that you can complete your reflective assessment and obtain your Master’s Degree.
2. Study additional modules** - increase your knowledge of legal practice areas which are of interest to you and can help shape the direction of your career. You will sit the exams once you’ve finished your Bar Practice Course. View the elective module guide.
3. Write a dissertation - immerse yourself in an area of law and become expert in it, allowing you to demonstrate your knowledge in your applications to chambers and beyond.

If you study our Bar Practice Course LLM, you could also be eligible for a SLC Postgraduate Loan.

^{**Please note: if you are studying our BPC LLM part-time (weekend), our optional module subjects are only taught on mid-week days. Students studying additional modules at our Liverpool campus will have to attend regular sessions (1-2 days per week) at our Manchester campus for a single semester. Students studying additional modules at our Newcastle campus in will have to attend regular sessions (1-2 days per week) at our Leeds campus for a single semester. International students cannot study the additional module route in Liverpool or Newcastle, as they must complete all of their studies at one campus.}