Five hundred and twenty-six students were given pupillages between 1 October, 2006 and 30 September, 2007, compared with 515 in the previous year. The news will be warmly received by students hoping to enter the profession, as it is the first time in recent years that the number has not dropped.
The number of pupillages on offer has fallen by more than a third since 2000-01, when it stood at 850. By 2004-05 it had dropped to 598. This has largely been put down to factors such as the introduction of compulsory funding in 2003 and the Woolf reforms.
The news was welcomed by barristers in the City.
However, some of the Bar’s biggest names said the number of pupillages on offer needs to increase.
Bar Council chairman Geoffrey Vos QC said: “The numbers are stable and not going down which is good. Of course we want more pupillages and are not satisfied with the numbers, but hopefully we will find ways of improving them.”
He added: “We need to make a bigger effort to get more employed pupillages and we are keen to encourage organisations which use barristers to fund them.”
Michael Todd QC, chairman of the Chancery Bar Association, also said the numbers needed to increase but added that chambers were now under added financial pressure.
He said: “I can only think that any long-term decline in pupillage numbers is to do with the fact that a substantial amount of money is being paid by chambers seeking to get the best candidates in an increasingly competitive market. The competition can be seen both internally, between sets, and externally, with solicitor firms.”
The figures come as Lord Neuberger prepares to reveal his Entry to the Bar working party recommendations at the end of the year.
