– Bar Scholarships and Interviews

BPTC Scholarships 

Each of 4 Inns of Court offer scholarships, bursaries and grants for the vocational part of your training to be a barrister (i.e the bar course).    Scholarships are awarded on merit and may be topped up based on means.  Although each Inn is different they all, essentially, want to make awards to people who both deserve them demonstrate the motivations and skills needed to succeed in the bar course and who stand a good chance of progressing to pupillage.  The awards do not have to be paid back.

Each Inn has many awards on offer but you may apply to only one Inn for consideration.   You do not need to be a member of an Inn to apply but, if you are already a member of an Inn you will not be able to apply to any other.  If you are successfully given an award you will need to join the awarding Inn to receive it.   You apply by application form which can be found on the Inn’s website.  You will need to provide personal information (including income (although this is not the criteria for making an award – but may be the criteria for increasing the award), details of your legal experiences (i.e. work experience, mini-pupillages, mooting etc.) and references.   If your application is selected you will progress to the next stage – an interview.   Interviews are short but crucial.

The closing date for applications is always the first Friday in November.

To find out more see:

Find out more about the Inns of Court:

Support to help you make a successful application:

  1. Every October KLS asks an alum who achieved a major scholarship to talk you through the process including the differences between the Inns, the awards on offer, how to select the right one for you, how to make a successful application and interview tips.
  2. Darren Weir  (Director of Lawyering Skills)  and Jayne Instone (Careers Adviser in the Careers & Employability Service) will help you to complete your application and proof read for you.
  3. The above named will also help you with prepping for interview and Jayne can take you through a mock interview.

Interview Advice

Whilst the below focuses on Pupillage interviews the advice given is entirely relevant to scholarship interviews although the scholarship interviews will be shorter.   Pupillage applications open 18months prior to their start date so some of you may consider making applications in your final year of study.   We shall add more advice to this page about applying for pupillage and scholarship interviews shortly but please speak with Jayne or Darren if you want any help in the meantime.

Pupillage interviews 

 

Video Interviews