Bar Course Scholarships

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Award	Award Amount
One Peter Taylor Scholarship	£22,000
One Stephen Chapman Scholarship	£21,000
Five Princess Royal Scholarships	£20,000 each
20 Major Scholarships and approximately 73 Exhibition Scholarships: Awards will be made on merit with award amounts decided taking into account the successful applicant’s resources and needs.	£1,521,931
18 Benefactors Scholarships & Prizes will be awarded in conjunction with the Exhibition Scholarships. A full list of Benefactors Scholarships can be found here.	£11,625
50 Duke of Edinburgh Awards to cover admission and Call fees	£175 each

In order to apply for a scholarship you will be required to submit an online application form, which will be linked below, when the application window is open.

The application form is broken down into 6 sections – contact information; educational details; legal and non-legal work experience; supporting information; references and equality monitoring. The ‘supporting information’ section includes professional statement/ essay style questions, which are specific to the scholarship you are applying for.

Please note that if you submit an application, you will be asked to provide details on your financial circumstances in January 2023, via a separate form within the scholarships portal.

Candidates submit one application form and are considered for all Inner Temple Bar Course Awards (listed above) at the same time.

Applicants are required to arrange for two references to be included in support of a scholarship application, which can be either academic or professional references. All referees should have known the applicant for at least 6 months, and references should be as detailed as possible. Please note that family members cannot provide references.

As part of the application form, applicants will be required to provide the names and contact details for their referees. An automatic email will then be sent to the referees, asking them to upload their reference directly to us.

In the last round of Bar Course applications, the Inner Temple interviewed every applicant. It is the Inn's intention, numbers permitting, to continue to offer interviews to all candidates that apply for a Bar Course award.

The 2023 Bar Course scholarship interviews will take place over Saturday 4 and Saturday 11 March 2023. The exact date of your interview will be sent to you nearer the time, so we recommend holding both dates in your diary to ensure that you are available to attend, either in person or virtually.

The format for an Inner Temple Scholarship Bar Course Scholarship Interview is as follows:

On arrival you will be registered and provided with an information sheet to read through. This sheet includes instructions for the case exercise, which forms part of the interview.
If attending in person, at the appropriate time you will be taken to a reading room and given a judgment to read through, which you will be asked questions on in the interview. The questions that you are likely to be asked about this judgement will be provided on the information sheet to help you prepare for this case exercise. If you are attending virtually, you will recieve a copy of the legal judgementvia email at the appropriate time.
When it is time for your interview, you are likely to be greeted by a panel of four interviewers, who will take turns asking you questions. All panel members will have been sent your application form prior to the interviews. The areas covered will include questions about your application, a case exercise and a situational test, which is an oral test that you will not be expected to have prepared for it in advance. If you would like to prepare in advance for the other sections of the interview we recommend reading through your application before the interview, it is not necessary, but you may also wish to read through some published judgements so that you are familiar with the format before the interview.
After your interview results are usually distributed within 3 weeks, via email.

Criteria	Description	Assessment Method
Academic performance	Evidenced by academic performance at university or academic potential shown through improvements at each academic stage.	Application form
Advocacy Potential	Deploys precise and well-reasoned arguments, with clarity and fluency. Can demonstrate persuasiveness and conviction, can tailor style to the audience.	Application form & interview performance
Legal Comprehension and Reasoning Skills	The ability to analyse complex information; identify material issues; and ability to defend an argument.	Interview performance
Professionalism and Interpersonal Skills	Ability to build productive working relationships, treat people with courtesy and respect regardless of their background or circumstances. Responds appropriately to those from diverse backgrounds and to the needs and sensitivities created by individual circumstances.	Application form & interview performance
Motivation	A very high level of commitment to a career at the Bar, together with a sound understanding of the profession and any current intended area(s) of practice. Being adaptable and flexible by being self-aware and self-directed.	Application form & interview performance

Applications	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Scholarship Applications	393	442	454	447	493
Interviewed (applicants minus withdrawals)	331	387	384	393	442
Total Awards	101	100	110	133	129

We understand that financing of Bar Course studies can be a big barrier to a career at the Bar and are committed to widening access to the profession. We aim to support meritorious candidates to be able to reach their potential through our scholarship programmes, but please see below some information on the other financial options available.

Student Finance

If applying for the combined Bar Course and LLM this qualifies for student loan funding of up to £10,906.

Postgraduate Loans

Post-graduate loans which cover the cost of course fees and living expenses are available from companies such as Future Finance and Lendwise (University of Law only).

Bar Course Providers

Many Bar Course providers have their own scholarship schemes which can provide a contribution towards the cost of undertaking the Bar Course.

Pupillage ‘Draw Down’

If you are successful in obtaining pupillage before you start the Bar course, some Chambers/Employers will allow you to ‘draw down’ some of your pupillage award to finance your Bar Course.

Differing Course Types

It is also possible to undertake the Bar Course part-time or as a 2-part course at certain providers, which enables the splitting of the cost of fees. If undertaking the Bar Course part time, it is possible to apply for an Inner Temple scholarship in the autumn before you start the course as well as the autumn in the first year of your training, if your application is unsuccessful.

Becoming a Barrister

Becoming a Barrister