Training for the bar: an important year

This article aims to describe: the conditions which students must satisfy to be able to apply for a place on the Bar Vocational Course and the new clearing house that has been established to deal with applications for the course; the origins of the Bar Vocational Course and further developments; the way the Bar Vocational Course is taught and assessed at the Inns of Court School of Law; the materials used and instruction given on conducting legal research at the Inns of Court School of Law; and the change in the Bar students' obligations to keep terms at their Inns of Court, as a prerequisite to being "called to the Bar", following the Bar Council's decision to allow a number of colleges to teach the Bar Vocational Course.