Bar Placement Scheme
Bar Placement Scheme
The Bar Placement Scheme allows students to spend up to four days shadowing a barrister in chambers and in court. Participants receive advocacy training from the Inns of Court College of Advocacy.
This is an excellent opportunity to build up your skills and CV, and to work out whether a career at the Bar would be suitable for you.
Apply for the Bar Placement Scheme
Bar Placement Week will take place on Tuesday 2 July – Friday 5 July. Applications for 2024 will open on Monday 15 April and close on Friday 3 May.
To deliver the Bar Placement Scheme, the Bar Council works with Pathways to Law and the Social Mobility Foundation.
State-educated sixth form and college students can apply to the scheme independently. Places are awarded on the following criteria:
- Quality of the application
- Demonstrated commitment to, and interest in, a career as a barrister
- Fulfilment of at least 2/3 following social mobility criteria: 1) must be attending a state school or college (in year 12 or 13) and 2) you'll be the first in your family to attend university 3) or have or are eligible for Free School Meals.
When
The Bar Placement Scheme 2024 will run from Tuesday 2 July to Friday 5 July 2024.
Where
Number of places and locations are yet to be finalised. However, last year, we had host chambers, covering a range of practice areas, in:
- Birmingham
- Chester
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- London
- Manchester
- Sheffield
We're continuing to receive offers of places in other major cities and may be able to match you to a location not currently listed.
Advocacy training
Advocacy training will take place in London. If you are a student in the north, the location of the advocacy training is yet to be finalised.
Chambers: host a student
If you're a barrister and your chambers would be interested in hosting a student, email us at [email protected], or call Kian Goodsell (Policy Analyst: Education & CSR) on 020 7092 8166.
Eligible students will be able to:
- Download an application form (MS Word) on Monday 15 April 2024.
- Get the consent form signed by their parent, carer or guardian – this is at the bottom of the application form.
- Complete the equality monitoring form online (this is voluntary).
- Email your completed application form and consent form to [email protected] by 09:00 on Friday 3 May.
The Bar Council is grateful to the Council of the Inns of Court, the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, and the four Inns of Court for supporting the Bar Placement Scheme.
Bar Placement Scheme Blog Competition winners
Each year, we invite students to submit a short blog describing their experiences during the week. We are consistently overwhelmed with the quality of responses.
Bar Placement Scheme 2023: "unpredictable, fast-paced, and thrilling" by Amina Yaasiin Ahmed
Amina Yaasiin Ahmed shares her experience on the Bar Placement Scheme, shadowing barristers and watching a trial in the High Court - and what she's learned from her week immersed in the Bar.
Bar Placement Scheme 2023: "Every preconception I had was incorrect" by Harry Folland
Read Harry Folland's reflections on his week with the Bar Placement Scheme, and how it challenged his ideas about what life at the Bar is really like.
Blog: Bar Placement Scheme 2022 made me sure this career is for me
Anaya Ricketts says she has picked up 'invaluable knowledge and experience'
Blog: Bar Placement Scheme 2022 an 'eye-opening experience that gave me new skills'
Eshal Waseem reflects on her time with Brick Court Chambers in London
Read placement stories by previous participants
- Read an article by a previous participant who completed a placement in London
- One student's account of their placement in Manchester