Barristers would be freed from continuing professional development (CPD) obligations under the Bar Standards Board (BSB) latest proposals for legal education and training.
In a consultation paper launched this week as part of the BSB's Future Bar Training programme, the BSB proposes replacing the Established Practitioners Programme with a new CPD scheme that lets barristers choose their own CPD programme, and abolishing the requirement that practitioners must complete 12 hours of CPD each year.
Simon Thornton-Wood, the BSB’s director of education and training, says: “We think barristers are best placed to map out and embark on the training most useful to their own career path.
“CPD should be about barristers enriching their perspectives, challenging and colliding ideas, and acquiring knowledge that will help them provide their clients with the best service possible. It shouldn't be a last minute scramble to attend the next available course, whatever it is, just to clock up a chosen number of hours.”
The consultation can be here, and closes on 2 September 2015.
