The Bar Standards Board (BSB) announced this week it will delay the three Central Examination Board assessments in civil litigation, criminal litigation and profession ethics until August but would keep this ‘under review as the situation develops’.
However, the students say sitting the exam in August may be impossible for some international students, due to continued lockdown in their home countries. Those due to begin pupillage in the autumn will have to sit the exams during pupillage, and will have no opportunity to resit. Moreover, it will be unsafe, even in August, for some students with underlying health conditions to sit exams.
The letter, to BSB director general Mark Neale, the Director General of the Bar Standards Board (BSB), describes the current proposal as ‘inadequate’. It acknowledges the terrible impact Covid-19 is having on people’s lives and emphasises that the students don’t want to prioritise their concerns over those of others but to urge the BSB ‘to make reasonable adjustments to mitigate them’ where it can.
However, the students argue: ‘it is clear that it is the format of the exams, not their timing, which must be changed… there are other solutions which could be adopted.’ They suggest options such as using software to ensure exam entrants adhere to time limits, making the exams ‘open book’ and asking applicants to sign a declaration.
The letter, which sets out the reasons why the current arrangement is problematic, can be viewed here.
A BSB spokesperson said: ‘We are very conscious that this is an uncertain and worrying time for students but, at the current time, we have nothing further to add to the statement which we published earlier in the week.’
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