Succeeding on the Bar Course
20 years ago this month I started what was then known as the Bar Vocational Course. Monday 10th September 2001 to be precise. 10 years ago this week I started teaching on what was then known as the Bar Professional Training Course. Now, in 2021 I have yet another different job but it seemed timely to write a blog post for students who are about to embark on the Bar Course, whatever it might be called at your provider, with a consolidation of the advice I’ve given students through the years on how to put themselves in the best position to pass.
I’ve delivered this as a lecture when I taught on the course, to students at Middle Temple and in parts to various groups over the last decade. It should therefore be easy to piece it all together from some notes. Which it would. If I ever wrote notes of my lectures. Which I don’t. So it isn’t.
What is it that makes the Bar Course (as I will call it for ease throughout this post, possible bar course, maybe just course, you won’t be confused) a challenging year? Well, none of the elements are impossible. The combination of passing 10 assessments that require markedly different skills sets remain one of the reasons why the first time pass rate for the course has historically been low with just a small proportion not having to retake something.
If you’re reading this and passed the Bar Course prior to 2010, you might be wondering what I am talking about. You might always wonder what I am on about, but specifically here you might recall the Bar Course being rather simple to pass. Well, things changed in 2011/12 when the centrally set assessments were introduced. I have neither the time nor the energy to get into the open vs closed book debate suffice to say I think any test of Civil or Criminal Litigation should be open book, but these centrally set exams have a much lower pass rate than the provider set litigation exams of old. The same was true of Professional Ethics from 2011/12 to 2019/20 but that has reverted to being provider and not centrally set.
Anyway, enough History Today (“You see that Part 36?, that’s you that is”) and on to some advice.
Mode of study
Some students apply for a place on a full-time and part-time Bar Course in the same application round because they are unsure as to which mode of study they want to embark upon. In my view, part-time study is more difficult than full-time. You have to study at the same time as working, caring for a family and/or whatever else it is you do Monday-Friday when you would otherwise be doing the BPTC. Secondly, it can be difficult to keep up the same momentum when you only attend your provider once a week/fortnight/one weekend a month. Do you really have time to fit in the equivalent of a week or two on the full-time BPTC around your already busy life? Do you have the self-motivation and drive to do so? Part-time study is not for the faint hearted or those who need the weekly pressure of preparing for class. It is however, ideal for the independent learner capable of building their own timetable to spread their work over a month.
General approach
Some who have taken the course will tell you it’s easy to pass. Generally, they tend to be people who took it pre 2011 when it became more difficult, or they have perhaps misremembered how much work they did, or they might be part of the exceptionally small number who really do find everything in life, easy. But can they cook scallops with chorizo dust? They can. Oh. Well good for them then.
For us mere mortals, there’s a considerable amount of material to get through on the course. Doing so efficiently requires four Ps
Plan
Prepare
Participate
Pconsolidate
Plan
As with any University programme you’ll have contact hours and what at first seems like acres of spare time. The temptation is to sit around chatting to your mates, elongated lunches or drinking. While you do need to find time to unwindulax, you also need some discipline to ensure you are able to get through the quantity of work required for each class. My most successful former students created a study timetable and stuck to it. Were they identical? No, because people work best at different times of the day, in different locations and some are more productive than others. I, for example, have read two Wikipedia articles in the course of writing this paragraph.
Prepare
Student: “I haven’t done any prep for this class”
Me: “Okay”
Student: “I’d have done better if I had prepared”
Me: “Yes, yes you would"
Student: “I’ll prepare before next week”
Me: “Sure, but that won’t change this week”
I’m not aloof to the cost of the course. Far from it. It was in my mind when I took it. Someone worked out that each small group session represented about £50 so it was probably worth getting as much as we could for money we’d already spent. Did we? Well, not every session. If you prepare, you’ll be able to participate, which is the next step.
Participate
Whether it’s a skills or knowledge subject, get the value of the real live human being in the room / on a screen when you get a chance. That’s what they are there for. If you don’t, sure you might still pass, but you shorten the odds of failing. Not participating means you treat the class like dictation and get little out of them
Pconsolidate
At the end of each class, day or week, depending on how you work best, go back through your notes from class and work out where the gaps in your knowledge or skills are. Then schedule some time plug the gap. I can also almost guarantee that a lecturer will happily give you their time if you need some help with a topic where it’s clear that you’ve prepared and participated but it just hasn’t stuck. As opposed to being asked to explain litigation. All of it.
Civil litigation, criminal litigation and professional ethics
There’s a lot of reading. You need to do that reading. Sure, there’s other resources to help and indeed for those at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, broadcast quality videos to assist but ultimately you need to read the rules and commentary to understand what it is you need to be able to apply in the assessment. I used to hear students say that they’d not done the reading this week but they would later. Aside from the unlikelihood of this - if you didn’t read this week’s chunk, this week, you are unlikely to read lots of chunks later - you are also losing the ability to apply your knowledge in class or a similar session online.
Sure there are practice questions you can do later but you’re losing the opportunity to discuss them and understand why you were right or wrong with a human being there to help. Moreover, it’s understanding how litigation works that will let you answer any question rather than just the specific practice question before you. Take as a single example s.36 CJPOA 1994. Inferences from silence in interview. Unless you can (a) recall the provisions of the section and (b) understand what they mean, you can’t apply it to any scenario in which it crops up. If all you have is the recollection of a practice question then you are at the mercy of the factual matrix within it, which might or might not match the one in the assessment. Think of it as knowing how to cook eggs vs knowing only how to hard boil an egg. If in the assessment you are asked to demonstrate how to poach and egg with a delicious runny yolk, you’ll be out of luck.
Advocacy
One day I’ll write a longer post on advocacy, or perhaps a series of posts, maybe some videos. Or maybe I’ll just say I will. Until then, here’s an abridged version of my advice for those taking the course.
Every word matters: The most effective and impressive advocates are those who consider every word they use. Not one wasted. Their language is simple yet powerful. The ability to make complex things easy to understand is a high level skill.
Your voice is the voice of a Barrister: Don’t affect a voice that sounds like what you think a Barrister sounds like. Sure, you need to sound professional and your language needs to be appropriate but that’s a version of you, not a complete reboot.
Preparation plus delivery = advocacy: You can’t have one without the other. No matter how well you speak, without preparation it will just be random words failing to address your objective, be that making a submission or examining a witness. If you’ve ever heard a Barrister say that they just stood up and said whatever came to mind, chances are they didn’t, or it wasn’t very good, or they might be part of the 0.0001% of people who can do that and be impressive. None of those matter. You need to prepare properly in order to get something out of the session. Each advocacy session is a chance to improve and receive valuable feedback. By the same token, how you deliver that preparation is part of the exercise. I’ve lost count of the number of students who asked me to look over their skeleton or list of questions for chief or cross, disappointed I could do no more than comment on the words in the document and not their advocacy. How it’s delivered makes it a piece of advocacy.
Reading is not cheating: I know opinions vary here. If you read, you are more likely to speak too quickly, be monotonous and fail to engage with your Judge or witness. Those are the faults to avoid. Not reading. That can be the cause. But if you can avoid that and still read, I fail to see what the issue is. Your notes have to work for you so that you engage, sound appropriate and advance your case. Notes rather than prose promote that, but equally they won’t guarantee it. It’s harder to refer to notes if they are closely typed font size 12. Consider how much you can take in when you look down without being buried in your notes. Controversially for the times and for me as a tech obsessive, consider paper and pen. I like a piece of plain A4, landscape, with notes in big writing.
Listen: I mean really listen. Be it to a Judge or your witness. It’s as important as speaking. It helps you decide what the next word out of your mouth will be.
Don’t make the same mistake twice: Those who took my feedback form and in one smooth motion scrunched it into a ball to go in their bag, probably never read it. Read it. If you don’t understand it, ask your lecturer. If your session was recorded, watch it back with your feedback form to see why each comment was made, good and bad. The added bonus of watching yourself back is that you’ll be able to reflect on things your lecturer might not have seen, again good and bad.
Written skills
Much of what has been said so far generally and in relation to advocacy preparation and feedback applies equally here. More importantly, submit as many opinions and drafts to be marked as you can. Some providers don’t require you to do so every week and/or don’t require you to come to class with a full draft or opinion. Yes, you’ll gain something from reading the work of others but it’s not a patch on getting first hand feedback on your own work. Oh and to misquote John Mortimer, “Someone required you to give some advice, so do”. It’s not an academic essay. It’s an advice. The same is true with pleadings. Actually make sure you are making a claim or responding as appropriate.
Conference
Talk less, smile more. Conference requires you to listen and advise. A synthesis of many of the skills above. Failure to do one or both is likely to render you in difficulties.
Final note
Work hard. Work smart. Make sure you schedule some time to enjoy yourself too. I suggest making sure you have time for your hobbies. If you don’t have one, might I suggest cooking. Obviously.
It’s not to late to revisit my post on pre-course tips.
Or this one on thinking like a lawyer.
Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash