Commercial sets back scheme to fund criminal law pupillages
15 December 2020
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Eight commercial chambers have signed up to a Bar Council scheme to fund criminal law pupillages that would otherwise not be available because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They are following the lead of Keating Chambers, which in September put up £20,000 to fund a pupillage that a criminal set has had to withdraw and incoming Bar Council chair Derek Sweeting QC said has been “instrumental” in gathering support from across the commercial Bar.
Giving his inaugural address, Mr Sweeting also fired a warning shot across the bows of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) over the extent to which it should look to regulate equality issues.
Seven top sets of barristers’ chambers have agreed to fund pupillages that would have been otherwise cancelled due to Covid-19.
They follow in the wake of Keating Chambers, which put forward £20,000 in the summer to help fund a criminal Bar pupillage in a bid to offset the financial impact of the pandemic on the criminal bar.
The further sets that have now stepped forward are Atkin Chambers, Brick Court Chambers, Twenty Essex, Matrix Chambers, 3 Verulam Buildings, along with a group of members at Blackstone Chambers and a group of members 4 Pump Court.
Incoming chair of the Bar Council Derek Sweeting QC revealed the news in a speech last night, saying: “Because this scheme has been set up at short notice, as an emergency measure, I know there are other sets which are also likely to join.”
By Jemma Slingo2020-12-15T11:15:00+00:00
Selected chambers are to fund criminal law pupillages that would otherwise have been cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19.
Under a scheme administered by the Bar Council, at least eight commercial chambers and groups of members of commercial chambers will pay for criminal pupils to complete their training.
In his inaugural speech, incoming chair of the Bar Council Derek Sweeting QC thanked 20 Essex St, Atkin Chambers, 3 Verulam Buildings, Matrix, Brick Court, 4 Pump Court and Blackstone for participating in the scheme.
He also thanked Keating Chambers, which ‘started this ball rolling in September and [has] been instrumental in gathering support from across the commercial bar’. Keating is in the last stages of putting its own arrangements in place with a criminal set.