Bar Course

The Bar Course is a postgraduate vocational course which allows graduates of law to study and train to be barristers in England and Wales. A total of ten institutions are authorised by the Bar Standards Board to run the Bar Course, and all students of the Bar Course are required to register with one of the four Inns of Court prior to enrolment. The Inns of Court are the only institutions authorised to call students to the Bar of England and Wales, whereby those who successfully complete the Bar Course are eligible to be named as barristers. The Bar Course was known until 2020 as the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), and before September 2010 was known as the Bar Vocational Course (BVC). Individual providers offer the Bar Course under different names, but their curricula remain substantively the same.

The Bar Course is the vocational component of Bar training, the second of the three-stage route to qualifying as a barrister in England and Wales. The first stage is the academic component, requiring the completion of either: a qualifying undergraduate law degree with at least lower second-class (2:2) honours; or a non-law degree with at least 2:2 honours and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law. The third stage, following successful completion of the Bar Course, is the work-based component completed by way of pupillage.

This vocational component of Bar training can be completed in four different ways, including:

the three-step pathway (vocational component completed in one part in addition to the academic and pupillage components);
four-step pathway (vocational component completed in two parts, in addition to the academic and pupillage components);
integrated pathway (vocational and academic component combined, followed by pupillage); or
a combination of the academic, vocational and pupillage components.