Ten factors to consider when choosing a BPTC provider (original) (raw)

BPTC offer day brings excitement to students as emails arrive in their inbox offering them a place on the course. For some, they will have carefully researched their choice of provider in advance and immediately click the accept button from their first choice. For others, they struggle to remember why they put the providers down in the order they did. Another group may have selected them at random.

Whichever group you fall into, I suggest that you take a step back for a moment and consider carefully where you invest the not insubstantial time, effort and of course money during the next academic year.

It’s an important choice and so here are my 10 criteria. Save for number 1 which really should be the first point you consider, they are in no particular order.

1. Is the BPTC really for me?

Getting an offer is exciting. You may have got more than one. A place on the BPTC is the next stage before pupillage and fulfilling career at the Bar. Be excited and congratulate yourself but take a step back for a moment and remember that while the Bar is a wonderful career option, the number of pupillages is small, much smaller than the number of candidates who pass the BPTC each year. The average person who gets pupillage will have a First or a very good 2:1. Some chambers expect an LLM from a top ranking law school in addition. All will have plenty of extra-curricular activities on their CV (with pro-bono advocacy being a particularly attractive nugget) and they will have done some mini-pupillages in areas within and without those that they intend to apply for pupillage.

Have you looked carefully at the profiles of the last 4-5 tenants at the chambers that you have or will apply to? Do you have a similar academic and extra-curricular profile?

If not, do you need to take a year out to gain a further qualification and/or experience? The BPTC is an intensive year in terms of the amount of work you will do and the number of assessments you will take (12) so the chance to gain experience during the course is perhaps smaller than you think.

The BSB has an attendance requirement for the course which all providers must implement without exception. You are expected to attend 100 per cent of your timetabled classes. Attend fewer than 90 per cent and the Exam Board will have to consider whether the reasons for absences are acceptable. Attend fewer than 80 per cdnt and you are prohibited from passing the course irrespective of the marks that you achieve in your assessments.

I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm for the course or your chosen career, but please make sure you start the BPTC armed with the knowledge that the course is hard work and that a relatively small number of people get pupillage. Each year a number of students with exceptional academic results and a huge amount of extra-curricular experience fail to get pupillage. It’s a sobering thought and one that you should have in mind before and not after you start the course.

2. Cohort size

Ishan Kolhatkar

There are eight BPTC providers with BPP and the University of Law offering their course in more than one city. The size of the cohorts range from 36 to 360.

Cohort size is important – not from the point of view of tutors knowing you because the staff student ratio set by the BSB and so class sizes will be no larger with a big cohort, but instead as to how many of your fellow BPTC students you meet and get to know.

The BSB mandate that classes are no bigger than groups of 12, so no matter where you go, you’ll spend a large amount of time with 11 other people for most of the year. In a small cohort however, you are likely to get to know and socialise with a small group of like minded people with a similar focus on being called to the Bar in just under a year. In a large cohort, your classmates and tutors will get to know you (and you them) just as well, but you are unlikely to meet and socialise with the entire cohort. Indeed there will be some who you never speak to.

Which do you prefer? Which are you used to from university, schooling or your current employment?

3. Which city?

Another declaration of interest here: London is the greatest city in the world. I love New York and it represents the only other city I’d live in without hesitation, but London is the greatest city in the world. There, I’ve said it. I understand however, that there are some who disagree.

I’m led to believe that there are people who like fields (we have some, though we moved them all out to Zone 6), cleaner air (the extra oxygen would probably hurt my lungs), soft water (I like my tea and coffee with a limescale crunch) and rent/mortgage that doesn’t make you wince in pain once a month (I’ve got nothing except to repeat my first point, London is the greatest city in the world).

For those people, I understand that despite my well put submission above, they may want to live elsewhere during the BPTC. Perhaps you intend to seek pupillage in London and fancy a break from the greatest city in the world (I’ll stop now) for a year. Perhaps you want to be in chambers outside of London and want to show your commitment to another part of the country. It’s also true to say that the BPTC is cheaper outside of London.

In London you’ll have easy access to the Inns of Court and the extra support that they offer, though note all of the Inns are doing more than ever to expand their support outside of London with initiatives such as qualifying events on circuit.

4. Advocacy

For many, advocacy is the big draw of both the BPTC and a career at the Bar. While all providers must offer a minimum number of hours of advocacy tuition and assess your submission advocacy, examination-in-chief and cross-examination skills, it’s worth considering how that is delivered. All of the providers offer more than the BSB minimum number of hours. How is the module structured? When are the assessments? How is feedback delivered?

5. Structure, method of delivery and assessment

The BSB mandatef the minimum number of hours of small group sessions (tutorials) and large group sessions (lectures) that you must receive for each module. The providers however, differ in the way in which they deliver those.

Lectures can be delivered live, online or both. Which best suits your learning style?

During the year you will need to access practitioner texts, statutes and case law. What does your chosen provider offer you in paper form and what do you have access to online? Some students have all but abandoned paper in place of a laptop or tablet; does what the provider offers match with your paper vs online mix?

Are there formal revision sessions? What are the library opening hours?

No provider can please all of the students, all of the time. Look for a structure, method and provision of material that best matches the way you learn.

6. Options

The BPTC comprises of 10 compulsory assessments and two options. The options are two short courses in specialist areas of the law with a focus on the knowledge and skills required by members of the Bar in that area. Perhaps you have a fixed idea at this stage of the area or areas that you want to go into. Each provider offers its own suite of options assessed either by a piece of advocacy, a conference or a written advice.

Check that the provider you are thinking of going to offers at the very least, the main area you are interested in, but given that you have to take two, that there is a second that interests you too. If options are subject to numbers (and they usually are) find out the likelihood of your preferred option(s) running in your year.

7. Extras

Given that the BPTC is a highly regulated course with prescriptive requirements from the BSB heavily restricting what is delivered as part of the course, the providers look to add extras in a bid to differentiate.

Look carefully not only at the extras on paper, but what they involve. Pro bono work, for example, can be a wonderful way of giving back to the community while improving your CV. Examine what the pro bono opportunities are. If what you want is pro bono advocacy, then look specifically to see whether that is offered and if so, what the opportunities are.

8. Pupillage statistics

While going to a provider with good pupillage statistics won’t by itself get you a pupillage, it will give you an idea of the composition of your future cohort. People with a pupillage before the course starts (and that might include you) are usually willing to share their experiences of applying for pupillage and the rigorous process employed by chambers in selecting a pupil. In addition, tutors at providers who teach those who get pupillage are able to get a feel for what chambers are looking for from year to year.

9. Support

Students come and see their tutors for all sorts of reasons, from personal issues that arise during the course to careers advice and references. Some students need more support for issues particular to them, for example, learning support. Tutors at all the providers can and will help you during the course with the usual careers requests. Providers must accommodate your learning support needs where you have evidence to support them; the more unusual your needs, the more I’d advise you to speak to a provider early to ascertain the format of the reasonable adjustment that they will offer.

All students might want to enquire as to the professional background of the teaching team and whether any retain a court practice. A blend of experience in practice across a number of areas means that even if your Personal Tutor can’t help, there is likely to be another who can.

10. Mode of study

This final point may not apply to everyone. Some students apply for a place on a full-time and part-time BPTC in the same application round because they are unsure as to which mode of study they want to embark upon. In my view, part-time study is more difficult than full-time. You have to study at the same time as working, caring for a family and/or whatever else it is you do Monday-Friday when you would otherwise be doing the BPTC.

Secondly, it can be difficult to keep up the same momentum when you only attend your provider once a week/fortnight/one weekend a month. Do you really have time to fit in the equivalent of a week or two on the full-time BPTC around your already busy life? Do you have the self-motivation and drive to do so? Part-time study is not for the faint hearted or those who need the weekly pressure of preparing for class. It is however, ideal for the independent learner capable of building their own timetable to spread their work over a month.

I hope that helps you reach a decision. If you have any questions for a provider then speak to them at the Pupillage Fair, an Open Day or contact them by email or phone. I wish you the best of luck with your decision and the BPTC in due course. Once you’ve made your decision, perhaps take a look at my five tips for prospective BPTC students. Between now and September I shall be posting on articles on thinking, writing and speaking like a lawyer to help you with the transition from student to practitioner.

Ishan Kolhatkar is a tutor on the Bar Professional Training Course. He Tweets @BPTC_Lecturer and more of his blogs can be found here.