Law schools can accept students with pending degree results
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has issued guidance to undergraduate students impacted by the exams marking boycott who wish to commence their bar training this September.
Tens of thousands of final-year students are thought to have been caught up in the action being taken by members of the University and College Union (UCU) at 145 UK institutions, in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
For many students, including aspiring barristers seeking to progress onto a bar training course, the boycott is delaying the confirmation of final degree results. The BSB stipulates graduates must have achieved at least a 2:2 at undergraduate level, although most major law schools require a 2:1.
In response to the delays, the BSB has today confirmed bar course providers have the option to enrol students who are still awaiting results. It said:
“The BSB gives discretion to providers of vocational Bar training to allow students to enrol who have results pending from an undergraduate law degree or a Graduate Diploma in Law, on the understanding that (1) providers will satisfy themselves that students are likely to meet the normal admissions criteria, and (2) that both sides understand the risks and the consequences of the student failing the degree or the Graduate Diploma in Law. A student cannot be either Called to the Bar or progress to pupillage unless they have successfully completed both the academic and vocational components of training.”