Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC)

The Professional Ethics module is designed to introduce you to the Code of Conduct of the Bar of England and Wales and to help you understand how it applies. By the end of the programme, you will be able to identify and address the sorts of common ethical problems that arise in practice.

Professional Ethics will be assessed by the Bar Standards Board in the same way as Civil Litigation and Criminal using a combination of multiple choice questions (MCQs) and short answer questions (SAQs).

This module covers Civil Litigation, Civil Evidence and Remedies. You will be provided with the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) which govern the conduct of the Civil Courts of England and Wales and supporting textbooks on procedure and evidence.  

Some of the briefs used on the Civil module are also used later in the Advocacy and Written Skills modules, so you can put what you have learnt into practice. This module will be assessed centrally by the Bar Standards Board by means of multiple choice questions (MCQs) and short answer questions (SAQs).  

 

Advocacy is the core skill for any barrister. In recognition of this our programme provides 30% more advocacy training than the minimum required by the Bar Standards Board.

The main areas covered by our Advocacy module are Applications, Submissions and Witness Handling. You will have the opportunity of practising and receiving feedback on your advocacy skills in weekly one and a half hour sessions. Each advocacy session will only have four students in the group.  

Our advocacy sessions are designed to prepare you for the work of a barrister in practice and we have adopted an integrated approach to teaching this skill. For example, an advocacy exercise based on a witness handling case may be the same case you have studied elsewhere on the BPTC, such as in the Civil Litigation module. Your skills in advocacy will be developed in both civil and criminal cases.  

Criminal Litigation, Evidence and Sentencing is taught through a series of weekly small group sessions with the aid of mock briefs and case studies. All aspects of criminal procedure are covered, ranging from arrest and charge through to appeals against conviction and sentence. 

The admissibility of a different types of evidence is considered including confessions, hearsay, illegally obtained evidence and public interest immunity. By the end of the module you will be fully familiar with the practices and procedures involved in cases heard in the magistrates, youth and crown courts. This module is centrally assessed by the Bar Standards Board in the same way as Civil Litigation; by means of multiple choice questions (MCQs) and short answer questions (SAQs).

Opinion writing is an essential skill for any barrister. Opinions are the barrister's written advice on the best way to handle a case, prepared in response to instructions from a solicitor.

We adopt a very practical approach to developing opinion writing skills. The starting point for writing a good opinion is to have sound legal research skills which are developed throughout the BPTC. The opinion writing module will then develop your ability to present a legal opinion, based on your research, which is clear, balanced, and takes account of the strengths and weaknesses of the case for both sides.

Counsel are increasingly required to advise and assist their clients in order to resolve disputes out of court and avoid the costs, time and possible adverse publicity of a trial. Knowledge and understanding of mediation, negotiation and arbitration are fundamental for any barrister,  irrespective of his or her specialisations.

These skills are particularly important to those practising at the commercial and family Bar. This module develops your knowledge and skills in a variety of contexts including contract, negligence and nuisance cases. 

All barristers need to able to advise their clients in conference. The conference module covers everything needed for an effective conference including preparation and planning, interaction, structure, questioning technique and the delivery of advice. Most of the scenarios are based upon criminal law. Conference is taught in groups of 4 and each student gets oral and written feedback on every performance. All performances are recorded for students to watch back. Professional actors are brought in to play the client both for the mock and final assessments.

The aim of the module is to provide you with a general, basic overview of the main aspects of company law within a practical framework. We will prepare you for the kind of demands you might encounter once you enter pupillage and practice. 

You will be assessed on your ability to write an opinion and, settle appropriate paperwork in a matter involving one or more company law issues.  

This option is designed for those who are interested in private international trade law. The module is taught using realistic briefs and provides you with an insight into a number of areas of international trade law and the practices of the admiralty and commercial courts.  

The module covers the following areas:  

• International Sale of Goods – the contracts and terms found in sale contracts involving an international element
• Letters of Credit – the method of financing the sale contract and the obligations on the banks and parties
• Carriage of Goods by Sea – who has a right to sue the sea carrier of the goods, the obligations on the sea carrier of the goods and whether the sea carrier can sue anyone for their losses
• Jurisdiction and Law – in which country a claim can be brought and which law will be applied to the claim
• Arbitration – the procedures that apply to an arbitration of a claim

The module is designed to make you research and use case law, statute law and international conventions. It is taught in a practical way and requires students to think of commercial solutions to problems. Please note that International Trade is only available in London and is timetabled on weekdays.

This module is assessed by way of opinion.

This option covers chancery procedure, landlord and tenant disputes, mortgage possession proceedings, equitable remedies, property disputes, contentious probate, and trusts disputes. The module involves advocacy, advice and drafting for residential possession proceedings, and advice and/or drafting on the legislation protecting business tenants, disputes over restrictive covenants, rights of way and boundaries, the challenging of a will, the interpretation of a trust and a claim for breach of trust.

This module is suitable for those students who are interested in going into traditional property-based chancery sets, or sets specialising in landlord, tenant and broader property law.

This module is assessed by way of opinion.

In this module you will study areas of IP law you are most likely to come across in practice.  Copyright looks at the protection of artistic works, from the traditional books, paintings and sculptures, to the more contemporary films, sound recordings, computer software and web sites.  Trademarks law is about the protection of business reputations through the use of brands and logos.  Passing off is an alternative way of protecting business reputations, and breach of confidence looks at privacy and confidentiality in UK law.

Classroom activities include running conferences and advising a client biographer, negotiating a business settlement regarding trademark infringement, making an application for an interim injunction in court, and drafting opinions advising on tricky issues of IP law.  

This module is assessed by way of opinion.

The personal injury and clinical negligence option covers the essential areas for a pupil embarking on personal injury practice at the Bar. It looks in detail at road traffic accidents, trips and slips and accidents at work. This is both in terms of ordinary claims and those by dependants in respect of fatal accidents such as death from asbestosis, as considered by the House of Lords in Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services. The intricacies of quantum and assessing future losses using Ogden tables are considered in detail. The module is also an introduction to clinical negligence including understanding medical jargon and the difficulties of proving causation.

The aim of this module is to provide you with a general overview of the main aspects of Employment Law within a practical framework, which will prepare you for the kind of demands you might encounter once you enter pupillage and practice. 

We cover key aspects of employment law including wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal, redundancy and discrimination. The focus is on giving practical advice to your client and the assessment is by way of a conference with a professional actor playing the client.

Family law is a dynamic area with constant changes either through statute or case law. The BPTC Family Law option focuses on Ancillary Relief – the financial provision parties receive on divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership. 

We examine how the courts approach financial relief and how to settle at a reasonable level. The module also looks at domestic violence in a practical context, how to gain an injunction and how to draft orders and undertakings. We also deal with private and public child law through conference and drafting of consent orders reached by agreement between the parties.

This is a practical module aimed at putting a student in a position where they can start their pupillage with a good grounding in the law. It will also give you the tools you will regularly need at the junior Bar.

This option provides you with an opportunity to tackle a range of public law and human rights cases – and deal with the practical and legal issues which arise. The subject matter is fairly wide with a bias towards homelessness and social welfare law. Areas of law covered include prison law; homelessness; and the law affecting refugees and their entitlement to support.

The assessment takes the form of a brief and instructions to counsel, requiring you to draft grounds and the accompanying claim form in a judicial review case. 

The Criminal Courts are amongst the fastest moving courts in the country and Criminal Barristers are expected to be fully prepared and efficient at every turn.

This module is designed to introduce you to a representative sample of the hearings and applications you might find yourself dealing with in your second six months of pupillage and the first few years of practice. Over the course of lectures and corresponding small group sessions, you could (for example) fight for Public Interest Immunity in a drugs case, argue for an abuse of process, defend an ASBO or attempt to exclude unfairly obtained evidence.

The emphasis is on the practical application of the law, and the assessment reflects this with advocacy and conference.