THE CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Guidelines for Course Providers

The purpose of these guidelines is to assist potential course providers in determining whether a course can be accredited for the Bar’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme. The guidelines also give advice on course delivery and outline the administrative procedures that should be followed for a course to obtain accreditation. Course providers who require additional information are requested to contact Elizabeth Prats, Continuing Education Officer, 289 - 293 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7HZ.

(Tel: 020 7611 1444, Fax: 020 7831 9217,

E-mail: ).

APPLICATION FOR RECOGNITION AS A COURSE PROVIDER

Specialist Bar Associations, Circuits, Inns of Court and Chambers are authorised as course providers and may provide courses provided that they meet the criteria outlined below and that the Education Standards Department is notified of the relevant information at least two weeks before the course is delivered.

Other organisations must apply to the Bar Standards Board for recognition as an external course provider. Application forms are available from the Continuing Education Officer. There is an initial application fee of £350. Successful applicants will be notified in writing and granted permission to provide CPD courses, subject to these guidelines and applying for individual course accreditation.

Providers are required to pay an annual fee of £400, or a reduced fee of £100 if it makes no charge for attendance at accredited courses; the annual fee entitles providers to receive 15 courses to be accredited annually without further charge. Course accreditation must still be sought. At the conclusion of each year, if a provider has received more than 15 course accreditations then they shall be invoiced £25 for each additional course. Providers subject to the reduced annual fee will not be invoiced for additional courses.

ACCREDITATION OF COURSES

The Education Standards Department wishes to encourage a flexible and varied programme of continuing professional development for practitioners, including lectures, seminars, conferences, workshops and training sessions. All courses, which fit within the definition of CPD, will be accredited in half hour units, provided that course providers comply with the procedures outlined below. The minimum that a course can be accredited for is 0.5 CPD hours. Please note that practitioners will not be credited with attendance at a course unless the Education Standards Department has been notified of the details of the event at least two weeks in advance.

The course will be accredited if the content of the course fits within our definition of CPD. The definition of CPD is as follows:

CPD definition

CPD is work undertaken over and above the normal commitments of barristers with a view to such work developing their skills, knowledge and professional standards in areas relevant to their present or proposed area of practice, and in order to keep themselves up to date and maintain the highest standards of professional practice.

Authorised course providers who are offering relevant courses should contact the Education Standards Department to request a CPD course accreditation application form. Completion of the form for each course is mandatory; courses will not be considered without one.

Applications for course accreditation must be sent to the Education Standards Department of the Bar Standards Board at least two weeks prior to event commencement. Applications may take up to two weeks to be processed.

It is the responsibility of the provider to ensure compliance with all applicable equality and diversity and health and safety legislation and requirements. In particular, the obligation is on the provider, not the Bar Standards Board, to ensure that the venue in which the training is delivered complies with the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.

For a Compulsory Advocacy Training Course to be accredited the following additional information should be supplied to the Education Standards Department at least two weeks prior to the course:

  • A completed CPD course accreditation application form, in addition to;
  • The course aims and objectives together with an explanation as to how the provider will seek to validate the course by establishing that those aims and objectives have been achieved.
  • All course materials.
  • Names and grades of trainers, with details of their experience and the name of the body that accredited them as an advocacy teacher. N.B. Only advocacy teachers who have been accredited by one of the bodies authorised to accredit advocacy teachers may teach advocacy on the compulsory advocacy training element of the NPP.

Providers should state on their advertising material or other relevant literature how many CPD hours the session constitutes.

Within a month of the conclusion of a Compulsory Advocacy Training Course providers should confirm, to the Education Standards Department, that there was no alteration to the approved list of trainers or, alternatively, lodge a revised list of trainers (with full details as above).

Course providers will be provided with a registration document, which should be made available to practitioners to certify their attendance. Course providers may use their own document provided that it contains the relevant details and that practitioners are required to sign it. The registration document should be returned to the Education Standards Department.

PROGRAMME COMPONENTS

NEW PRACTITIONERS’ PROGRAMME

New practitioners are required to undertake a minimum of 45 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the first three years of practice. The programme undertaken must include Advocacy Training (at least 9 hours), Ethics (at least 3 hours) and other CPD activity courses (at least 33 hours).

Advocacy Training

Providers of advocacy training must conform to the following requirements laid down by the Advocacy Training Council.

1Objectives

The object of the advocacy training element of the programme is to develop and advance skills appropriate to demands made on practitioners in the early years of practice. In order to achieve this the Advocacy Training Council would expect providers of approved advocacy courses to provide a mixture of small-group practical training by trainers trained and approved by the organisations accredited to do so (the Inns of Court and the Circuits) and instruction (lectures, seminars, master classes or the like).

2Basic Element

A minimum of nine hours practical small-group advocacy training must be delivered. The basic element shall be delivered in groups of such size as to facilitate the active participation of the trainees and the giving of constructive feedback by the trainer. The Hampel Method of advocacy teaching should be used for as much of this part of the teaching as possible. The assessment criteria identified in Dutton 2 (the Report On Assessment Of Advocacy by the Advocacy Working Party under Timothy Dutton QC, February 2004) provides the standard to which all advocacy should taught. These assessment criteria will be provided with these guidelines.

3Optional Additional Element

The providers may, at their discretion, provide additional hours of instruction through lectures or seminars.

4Core Syllabus

Both the Basic Element and the Optional Additional Element should address relevant core advocacy skills such as: witness handling; expert evidence; evidence through video links; opening and closing addresses to bench and/or jury; advocacy in interlocutory matters; the use of skeleton arguments; appellate advocacy.

5General Matters

5.1All advocacy training courses within the Programme are subject to approval and monitoring by the Continuing Professional Development Sub-Committee.

5.2The Basic Element must be delivered by trainers who have been trained and graded appropriately by an approved advocacy teacher training body, i.e. an Inn of Court or Circuit.

5.3Any advocacy training intended specifically for criminal or civil practice should be so identified.

Ethics

The objective of this component is to enable the new practitioner to identify those situations which raise ethical problems, to understand the principles that govern professional conduct and to apply these principles to given situations. Courses should incorporate discussions of the three basic duties in the Code of Conduct: the overriding duty to the court, the duty to act in the client’s best interests and duties to third parties. Courses may also deal with aspects relating to client care and the cab rank rule. A model ethics syllabus identifying relevant issues in each of these areas has been prepared by the Professional Standards Committee, and is set out below.

1.Overriding duty to the Court

-Duty not to mislead

-Previous convictions

-Expert’s reports (esp. in family cases)

-Where client is being economical with facts

-Changes in client's story

-Where court makes mistake of fact/law

-Where client has committed/is likely to commit perjury

-Where witness has committed/is likely to commit perjury

-In drafting witness statements

-Duty to assist/not to waste time

-Where client has a barely arguable case

-Where client wishes to put points which are not arguable

-Where client wishes to put irrelevant questions to witness

2.Duty to act in client's best interests

-Duty of confidentiality - can it be overridden?

-Conflicts between lay clients and solicitors

-Conflicts between clients

-In multi-handed cases etc

-Acting against a previous client

-Where client disagrees about handling of case

-Where client does not give adequate instructions/does not turn up

-vis a vis Legal Services Commission

-Advice on guilty pleas - especially where client protests innocence

-Negotiating settlements

3.Duties to third parties

-In settlement negotiations when new information comes in

-To witnesses

-Interviewing

-Cross-examining

-Allegations of fraud etc

-To other counsel

-Criticism of previous counsel

-But no 'counsel to counsel' privilege

-To instructing solicitors

4.Client care

-Prompt, courteous advice

-Giving notice of returns

-Criteria for selecting competing cases

-Behavior in conferences

-Fee negotiations

-Dealing with complaints from clients courteously and reasonably

5.Cab rank

-Reasons for refusing/returning cases

-Conflicts of interest

-Where previously acted for other side

-Where a connection with client (e.g. close family)

-Where a witness or involved with a witness

-Not leaving client in the lurch.

Other Accredited CPD Courses

Courses offered should address practical aspects of case preparation and/or issues relating to evidence and procedure, with the aim of enhancing knowledge and skills acquired through the Bar Vocational Course, pupillage and the early stages of practice. Courses can also include issues on substantive law or training in non-legal subjects relating to practice. Examples include: updates on recent developments in case law; commentaries on recent legislation; development of areas of specialist knowledge; information technology skills.

DUTTON 2 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Introduction

It is in the interests of the public, the Court and the profession that all barristers present their cases to the highest professional standards. They must prepare thoroughly and present their cases in a manner that is clear, well organised, efficient and persuasive. The criteria which are set out below, which advocacy trainers and students will be working with, are intended to achieve these objectives.

Principles

  • Criteria need to be few in number, so that both advocate and trainer concentrate on the absolute essentials.
  • Substantive teaching objectives (e.g. use of short questions) should be given primacy over style (e.g. courtesy).
  • Assessment of performance should take into account the presence or absence of evidence of preparation.
  • The assessment of skeleton arguments should be separate and distinct from their use in oral submissions.
  • The Advocacy Training Council and the Bar Standards Board will review this scheme and the assessment criteria at the end of the pilot period and on a regular basis thereafter.

Skeleton Arguments

  • Clarity of purpose.
  • Logical structure and organisation.
  • Identification of issues.
  • Clarity of expression.
  • Appropriate length.
  • Appropriate documentary references to external materials.
  • Appropriate references to authorities.

Oral Submissions

(1)Organisation

  • Clear Aim (Sets out clearly what the judge is being asked to do and the source of the power to do it).
  • Coherence (structured, logical, with clarity of expression).
  • Logical structure (beginning, middle and end).
  • Appropriate use of materials and appropriate use of authorities.

(2)Delivery

  • Audibility.
  • Pace.
  • Clarity of expression.
  • Use of appropriate language (language adapted to the tribunal).
  • Appropriate eye contact.

(3)Inter-action with tribunal/ dealing with opponent’s arguments

  • Anticipating points.
  • Dealing with court’s questions/concerns (i.e. answering questions, not avoiding them; not being thrown by questions; having an honest, and coherent, approach).
  • Relating submissions to skeleton arguments.
  • Appropriate use of authorities.
  • Adapting to opponent’s points.

Examination in Chief

(1)Organisation:

  • Clear and logical structure(telling the story through the witness).
  • Relevance (avoiding the irrelevant and eliciting substance whilst avoiding the irrelevant).

(2)Form of Questions

  • Avoiding leading questions (except where appropriate e.g.: facts not in dispute).

(3)Delivery

  • Audibility.
  • Pace.
  • Awareness of the tribunal.

(4)Inter-action with the witness

  • Audibility.
  • Appropriate control of the witness (use of appropriate language, apt and focused questions).
  • Short, simple questions, one point at a time.
  • Listening to answers.
  • Appropriate conduct towards the witness.

Cross-Examination

(1)Organisation

  • Clarity of purpose.
  • Logical structure and organisation.
  • Identification of issues.
  • Clarity of expression.
  • Demonstrates knowledge of the facts.
  • Relevance.

(2)Form of Questions

  • Closed and concise.

(3)Delivery

  • Audibility.
  • Pace.
  • Knowing when to stop.

(4)Inter-action with the witness

  • Controlling questions.
  • Listening to answers.
  • Flexibility.
  • Form of questions (fact not argument).
  • Courtesy

(5)Putting your case/Support for closing submission

  • Eliciting necessary facts.
  • Making challenges necessary to put your case.
  • Laying the factual foundation of your case.

Language

These assessment criteria are used for those intending to practice at the Bar of England and Wales, where the official language of the Court, and hence teaching and assessment, will be English. Where the official language of the Court is not confined to English, such as in Wales under the Welsh Language Act 1993, the pupil is entitled, if he or she wishes, to be taught and assessed in Welsh.

Disability

The criteria, their application and this scheme in general may be modified (where appropriate) in relation to any pupil who has a disability, within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Anyone who requires such a modification to be made should make this known to the Course Provider as early as possible, and normally before the start of the course, so that full consideration can be given to any modifications that may be appropriate.

DISTANCE LEARNING COURSES

The Bar Standards ask that when registering a distance learning course, you set a system for testing that work has been undertaken and successfully completed, usually by way of questionnaire or multiple choice, and that the responses received from the delegates are marked and an appropriate number of CPD hours awarded.

Authorised course providers offering distance learning courses must ensure that these courses are registered with the Bar Standards Board.

MONITORING OF COURSES

The Bar Standards Board may request course materials or send an observer to attend courses. The Bar Standards Board may withdraw recognition from external providers where there is evidence that they are not meeting acceptable standards of course provision or administration.

WEBSITE

The Bar Standards Board offers all providers free online listing through the website at To register please go to the website and click on the link to ‘Practising Certificate and CPD’ and then on ‘CPD Courses Database’. Please note that accreditation cannot be obtained by entering details onto the website. This must be obtained by contacting the CPD department directly.

If you require any further information on this please contact the Continuing Education Officer at the Bar Standards Board.