Bar Professional Training Course

The Bar Professional Training Course or BPTC (previously known as Bar Vocational Course, or BVC) is a postgraduate course which allows law graduates to be named and practise as barristers in England and Wales. The thirteen institutes that run the BPTC along with the four prestigious Inns of Court are often collectively referred to as Bar School.

The BPTC is currently the most expensive legal course in Europe. For the 2016-17 year, some of the London's colleges fees might exceed £20,000.

This academic stage is the first of the three stages of legal education, the second being the vocational stage (the BPTC) and the third being the practical stage (pupillage). On successful completion of the vocational stage, which also involves completing twelve qualifying sessions, students are called to the Bar; however, only those who have successfully completed pupillage can work as barristers.

In addition to passing the Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT), the minimum entry requirements for the BPTC is qualifying a Bachelor of Laws with no less than lower second-class (2:2) honours or a non-law academic degree with lower second-class (2:2) honours alongside the Graduate Diploma in Law.

Besides, applicants for the BPTC should also demonstrate excellent extracurricular activities. A suitable candidate has to provide strong evidence of a commitment to the English Bar. It is important for a candidate to have Common law, European law, Civil law and Criminal law reasoning as subjects during their course of studies as LLB students.

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