20 September 2023
People should be called to the Bar only once they have completed pupillage, Nick Vineall KC, Chair of the Bar, said at an event on ‘the Bar of 2043’ at Inner Temple Hall last week
Vineall said the current system was confusing for clients and not in the public interest.
‘For every barrister with a practising certificate there are two who have never been entitled to a practising certificate,’ he said.
‘And of all the people in the world who are entitled to tell you they are a barrister called to the Bar of England and Wales, only one in four has a practising certificate.’
Vineall expressed doubt that barristers would be ‘replaced by robots or Chatbots or AI’ but advocated practitioners learn what AI can and can’t do. He predicted alternative dispute resolution would increase and, while creating some opportunities for barristers, would ‘close off more work than it opens up’.
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