Joining an Inn of Court

If you are a Solicitor, qualified legal practitioner from another relevant jurisdiction or an academic wishing to transfer to the Bar, you will need to apply to the Bar Standards Board in the first instance. Depending on your experience and qualifications, they will send you a letter detailing their decision with the conditions you must fulfil in order to be called to the Bar.

Once you have received your letter from the Bar Standards Board, you may apply to join an Inn. You must be a member of an Inn to be called to the Bar.

We continue to welcome applications by post but it is now easier for us to receive applications through the applications portal (not to mention using less paper), so we encourage applicants to login to the online admissions portal. Select ‘Start a New Application’ complete the profile and choose ‘General Admissions’ from the application type, then ‘Transferring Legal Professional'.

Once you have been made a member of the Inn, you may apply to be Called to the Bar. Please note that you must be Called to the Bar before you practise; this includes the practising component of a pupillage.

There are four call dates a year in March, July, October and November. Please note that the July Call is very popular and spaces are allocated quickly. Spaces are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Transferring Solicitors, Qualified Foreign Lawyers & Legal Academics who receive approval from the Bar Standards Board on or after 1 September 2020 will need to obtain 10 Qualifying Session (QS) points before being considered eligible to be Called to the Bar. However, if the Bar Standards Board processed your application prior to 1 September 2020 the QS requirement will likely differ, so please refer to the exemption letter issued to you for further guidance. Please visit the Qualifying Sessions section of this website for further information on requirements that need to be met pre-Call to the Bar.

All members are responsible for keeping track of how many Qualifying Sessions they have completed.

Attendance at Call night will continue to count as a QS point until the 30 June 2021.