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Page last updated 25 October 2024
Maximise your chances of securing pupillage by building your legal knowledge and skills side by side. You'll embed your understanding through regular application of your knowledge to scenarios you are likely to experience when advising clients or in court.
By undertaking and successfully completing the UWE Bristol Bar Training Course (BTC), you will develop, and be able to demonstrate, the competencies required to be called to the Bar, as set out by the Bar Standards Board (BSB).
On the BTC course, you will build your legal knowledge and skills side by side, to embed your learning and maximise your chances of doing well on the course, and securing pupillage.
If you enrol on the PGDip course, you can subsequently transfer to the LLM, undertake extra modules and graduate with a master's.
The BTC provides the foundation to your career as a barrister. Part of the vocational component of training for the Bar of England and Wales, it covers the advocacy skills, and detailed knowledge of the law, required to be able to confidently work with clients and present legal cases in court.
Choosing to undertake your BTC (Combined) at UWE Bristol offers you the assurance of studying with a well-established education provider.
Taught by highly experienced tutors, who are all qualified barristers or solicitors, you will benefit from substantial face-to-face teaching, feedback and formative assessments, to embed your learning, hone your skills and give you the strongest foundation for your legal career.
Opting to study this course means that the knowledge and skills elements of your training will be taught together, in a way that is most reflective of life in Chambers, with both parts taught face to face to maximise your potential to succeed.
We place a strong emphasis on personal and academic support, giving you regular contact with your personal tutor at all stages, to support you with the rigorous demands of the course, alongside access to extensive university-wide resources.
Our well-established links to the local and national Chambers and Bar also open the door to significant career-enhancing opportunities, such as competitions, mock pupillage interviews, career talks, guest lectures and pro bono work, all designed to help you gain maximum value from your training.
The BTC prepares you for a successful career as a barrister, giving you the necessary skills, knowledge and network to maximise your chances of securing pupillage.
Many of our graduates go on to work as barristers, while others take this sought-after qualification into careers as legal associates, managers or legal advisers, or into other sectors.
The optional modules listed are those that are most likely to be available, but they may be subject to change.
PG Diploma Bar Training Course
You'll study:
Completion of the Full Award, LLM Bar Training Course
The course offers the option for students to attain the remaining 60 credits to enable them to graduate with an LLM Bar Training Course:
You'll study
Optional modules:
The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved, we'll inform you.
Highly experienced and supportive tutors, drawn from legal practice and the academic side of law, will help you develop your knowledge quickly.
Most of the course is taught face to face through small group sessions, providing substantial contact and opportunities for discussion, with your tutors and peers.
Weekly skills sessions, in small groups (no more than six students in Conference Skills and Advocacy sessions), will support you to develop the skills you will need to practise law and support clients effectively. You will take part in workshops, extended practice activities and role-play activities, and receive regular written and oral feedback on your skills. The sessions are also recorded to allow for subsequent reflection and analysis.
Studying the course means that Criminal Litigation and Civil Litigation are taught alongside the other subjects, and feed into them, to embed your learning at the deepest level.
For example, after studying sentencing in Criminal Litigation, you will be expected to apply that knowledge during a conference with a client awaiting sentence (Conference Skills), and to represent that client during their sentencing hearing (Advocacy).
Developing your skills under the supervision of experienced teachers, you will be supported to progress during the course to the level expected of a pupil barrister.
Guest lectures; mock trials with professional actors; and extensive online resources, such as recorded lectures, podcasts, blogs and demos, will further embed your learning and skills.
If you study towards the LLM, you will undertake further taught modules on specialist subjects (such as working with refugees), and complete a dissertation or project, to work towards your master's award.
See our glossary of teaching and learning terms.
On successful completion of the UWE Bristol BTC, you'll graduate with either a PG Diploma or LLM award.
Students undertaking the LLM course will receive their transcript of results in the seven compulsory modules required for Call while they are still undertaking their option, project or dissertation modules.
If you do not successfully complete the whole course, you would still potentially be eligible for:
The certificates would evidence your attainment of particular competencies and would be of value to you in pursuing another legal or non-legal career.
PGDip: the course runs for nine months, from September to May, with up to 14 hours of face-to-face tutorial group teaching a week, over three to four days. You will be required to spend approximately 30 hours a week on independent study, on top of your taught contact hours.
LLM: The taught part of the course is delivered over one year full time.
You'll study further modules to complete the master's award. Taught option modules can be undertaken immediately after completing the compulsory modules, and account for up to 30 credits, with up to 20 hours of contact time per module a week. Alongside this, you'll undertake project or dissertation modules which are predominantly self-study. These modules are to be completed within the same academic year.
Civil Litigation and Criminal Litigation assessments are set by the Central Examination Board, on behalf of the Bar Standards Board, and examined using multiple choice questions.
Professional Ethics is set by UWE Bristol as an unseen assessment in controlled conditions.
All other assessments are also set locally and are either completely seen or partially seen, in that you will receive information in advance to research the relevant areas of law.
In most assessments, you will be graded as either Outstanding, Very Competent, Competent, or Not Yet Competent.
We use mock assessments with feedback to help you monitor and improve your performance, and prepare effectively. Our tutors have extensive experience of the centralised assessments, so are well placed to support you.
For added flexibility, there is some choice about when you take your assessments, although we structure the teaching to allow you to complete them at the earliest opportunity.
See our full glossary of assessment terms.
This course is accredited by the Bar Standards Board.
You'll be based in the Bristol Law School, on our Frenchay Campus, with access to extensive facilities to support your learning, including:
The Law School sits within our £55m Bristol Business School building, which includes learning spaces for individual and group study plus conference rooms you can book.
You'll also have access to all the other facilities on our Frenchay Campus, including 24-hour access to our library, and a wide range of academic support, wellbeing and careers services.
Your tuition fee includes all the books and resources you need for the course (which will be provided to you) and the £875 BSB student fee.
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The BTC prepares you for a successful career as a barrister, giving you the necessary skills, knowledge and network to maximise your chances of securing pupillage.
Many of our graduates go on to work as barristers, working either as self employed or inhouse counsel, or for the Government Legal Profession or Crown Prosecution Service.
Other graduates take their BTC into careers as legal associates, managers or legal advisers, or into other sectors.
Alongside support from our award-winning university careers services, you'll receive careers advice and support specific to this course, including access to CV clinics, careers talks, 'ask the experts' events and mock interviews, to enhance your chances of obtaining pupillage and help you plan your career path. We can also help with planning for a career overseas through our international careers service.
After completing the PGDip, you have the option of undertaking further taught, dissertation or project modules and graduating with an LLM Bar Training Course.
"Coming from a non-conventional route, I found the panel talk reassuring with panel members from varied routes becoming barristers. It was insightful hearing about their different career stages and perspectives" Melissa, 2023 Bar Training Course graduate.
Through our strong links with Chambers in Bristol and nationally, you will have regular opportunities to connect with practice, and take part in:
As well as working with charities such as Support Through Court, we have our own Business Law Advice Clinic, where you can tap into diverse work experience opportunities, to give back to the community and enhance your employability at the same time.
At an additional, but highly reduced cost, we also offer students the opportunity to become a civil commercial mediator through an internationally respected mediation training provider.
See our funding pages for more information.
As stipulated by the BSB, you will need:
All students applying for a place on the UWE Bristol BTC course will be considered for an offer according to the extent that their application form demonstrates:
These criteria will be assessed by reference to answers on the applicants online application form.
We do not accept deferred entry applications for this course.
All prospective barristers must be able to demonstrate that their English language ability is at least equivalent to:
All applicants should have an effective command of the English language and be able to use it appropriately, accurately and fluently to handle complex and detailed argumentation. International students will be required to produce a certificate evidencing the necessary IELTS or Pearson test scores.
Barristers should:
The method for verifying that a prospective barrister has met this requirement will be determined by UWE Bristol.
Potential exemptions
International students will be required to produce a certificate evidencing the necessary IELTS or Pearson scores unless they:
UWE Bristol reserves the right to require any candidates who successfully self-certify to undertake the IELTS academic test or Pearson test if they do not subsequently demonstrate the English language requirement set out above.
Apply to study LLM Bar Training Course full-time.
Apply to study PGDip Bar Training Course full-time.
The application deadline is: Tuesday 8th July 2025. Please upload all relevant documents by this date.
We recommend that you apply well before the application deadline. Submitting your application early will allow time for our Admissions team to process your application.
The international deposit payment deadline is: Tuesday 22nd July 2025. You'll need to pay your deposit by this date. For information on how to pay your deposit, see our International student payments pages.
Read more about international applications and key international deadline dates.