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Barrister/Advocate

Barrister/Advocate

Do you want to become a Barrister/Advocate? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Barristers ( England and Wales) and advocates ( Scotland) give advice about legal cases to their professional clients and represent clients in court.

Their work includes:

  • talking to other professional people
  • giving written legal opinions
  • reading law reports and witness statements to prepare for a court case
  • representing clients in court.

Barristers/advocates generally work long hours, including evenings and weekends. Most barristers work in offices called chambers. Advocates are members of the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh. Barristers/advocates who specialise in criminal work spend a lot of their time in court. They may spend time travelling.

During pupillage (the final stage of training) most barristers receive around £10,000 a year. Experienced barristers/advocates earn between £19,000 and £260,000.

A barrister/advocate needs:

  • academic ability and a good memory
  • excellent spoken communications skills
  • confidence
  • to be able to think logically.

There are more than 11,564 self-employed barristers in England and Wales and 400 advocates in Scotland. Approximately 2,800 barristers work for specialist commercial law firms and other companies and about 800 work in government departments.

In England and Wales, candidates need an approved law degree, or another degree and a postgraduate law conversion course, followed by a Bar Vocational Course and two six-month pupillages.

In Scotland, candidates need a degree in Scottish Law plus a postgraduate diploma. They work for 21 months in a solicitor's office and serve nine and a half months' pupillage.

It is usual to become a barrister/advocate under the age of 30. However, it is possible to enter this profession as a second career.

Training to become a barrister/advocate is a very competitive and often costly process. At each stage of training there are more applicants than places, and once qualified it can be hard to secure a tenancy (ie a permanent place) in chambers.

After 10 to 15 years' experience barristers/advocates may apply ‘to take silk' (to become a Queen's Counsel), which is necessary to become a Court of Session judge or High Court judge.

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