The Bar Council has unveiled measures to tackle elitism in the profession and promote access by students from under-privileged backgrounds.


Chairman Geoffrey Vos QC announced plans for a placement programme to enable gifted children from state schools to learn about the bar, the courts and barristers, to put them in the best position to enter the profession.



The programme will be delivered in co-operation with the Social Mobility Foundation.



He said the Bar Council was also working to put together a new package of bank loans to help aspiring barristers from poorer backgrounds to finance the bar vocational course.



The proposals come in advance of a report commissioned by the Bar Council from Lord Neuberger of Abbottsbury on how current barriers to the profession can be overcome.



Mr Vos said the bar was a professional elite, but it was unfortunate that the elitism that fostered high-quality services also encouraged an elitism that led to exclusivity and the exclusion of talented people from less privileged backgrounds.



Catherine Baksi