The main areas covered by our Advocacy module are Applications, Submissions and Witness Handling. You will have the opportunity of practising your advocacy skills in 2 hour sessions every week for 20 weeks. Each advocacy session will usually have as few as 6 students.

Our advocacy sessions are designed to prepare you for the work of a barrister in practice and we have adopted an integrated approach to teaching this skill. For example, an advocacy exercise based on a witness handling case may be the same case you have studied elsewhere on the BVC such as in the negotiation module. Your skills in advocacy will be developed in both civil and criminal cases.

This module covers Civil Litigation, Civil Evidence and Remedies. You will be provided with the Civil Procedure Rules (“CPR”), which govern the conduct of the Civil Courts of England & Wales, and supporting textbooks on procedure and evidence.

Many of the briefs used on the Civil module are later used in Advocacy, Negotiation and Written Skills modules so you can put what you have learnt into practice.
This module is assessed twice during the academic year by way of multiple choice tests (“MCTs”).

Criminal Litigation, Evidence and Sentencing is taught through a series of lectures and weekly small group sessions with the aid of mock briefs and case studies. All aspects of criminal procedure are covered, ranging from arrest and charge through to appeals against conviction and sentence. The admissibility of a variety of evidence is considered including confessions, hearsay, illegally obtained evidence and public interest immunity. By the end of the module you will be fully familiar with the practices and procedures involved in cases heard in the magistrates’, youth and crown courts.

The ability to conduct a professional and productive conference with your client is essential for all barristers.

Over the programme of four lectures and eight small group sessions you will be faced with a variety of legal scenarios involving criminal and civil clients. You will be introduced to some of the many complex practical, legal and ethical issues that can arise in practice. For example you could face a client who, having punched someone to the ground and then kicked him for trying to get up, wants to argue self-defence, and you must be able to advise him appropriately. Or you might be advising a married man with children, whose defence is that he was with his mistress at the time of the offence. How do you deal with such a sensitive defence? This module aims to equip you with tools necessary to deal with such issues. Your assessment will involve a seen-brief and some un-seen information on the day of your assessment itself, in which your client will be played by a professional actor. You can expect a practical, challenging, realistic and enjoyable module.

Whilst advocacy is viewed as the primary skill of the barrister, more and more, counsel are being required to skilfully negotiate a favourable settlement on behalf of their client and avoid the costs, time and possible adverse publicity of a trial. Negotiation skills are fundamental for any barrister irrespective of his or her specialisations but are most commonly required by those practising at the commercial and family Bar. This module develops your negotiation skills in a variety of contexts including contract, negligence and nuisance cases. The focus is on enabling you to plan and prepare your negotiation within the time constraints common to life at the Bar and then providing you with the opportunity to practise your negotiation skills in class.

BPP’s Written Skills module runs over 20 sessions, 11 of which are devoted to Drafting.

Drafting is an important skill for a barrister and is an essential part of the litigation process. Your drafting skills will be developed progressively with the aim of enabling you draft pleadings without relying on precedents. We aim to provide a strong foundation which can be built upon and developed in practice.

Opinion writing is an essential barristerial skill whatever area of practice you intend to work in. Opinions are the barristers written advice on the best way to handle a case usually prepared in response to instructions from a solicitor. The starting point for writing a good opinion is to have sound legal research skills which are developed through the BVC. The opinion writing module will then develop your ability to present a legal opinion based on this research which is balanced, takes account of the strengths and weaknesses of the case for both sides and is clear. The BPP Written Skills module runs over 20 sessions, 9 of which are devoted to Opinion Writing.

We adopt a very practical approach to developing opinion writing skills which are mainly based on tort and contract scenarios.

A key requirement for success at the Bar is to possess effective legal research skills. A detailed knowledge of the relevant law and the ability to apply it to the case at hand is a prerequisite for success in court and in many cases will mean that the matter will never reach court in the first place.

Clearly, even the most experienced lawyer cannot know the answer to every problem but careful legal research is the key to finding the solution. This legal research module will develop your ability to identify the relevant facts and issues in a case and then classify the information required in legal terms.

You will practise the ability to locate and use both the hard copy and electronic sources which would be used by practitioners.

The Professional Ethics module is designed to introduce you to the Code of Conduct of the Bar of England and Wales and to understand how it applies. By the the end of the programme, you will be able to identify and address the sorts of common ethical problems that arise in practice.
Professional ethics are taught by an introductory lecture, followed by five small group sessions covering:

• A barrister’s relationship with other members of the bar
• A barrister’s relationship with lay clients
• A barrister’s relationship with professional clients
• A barrister’s relationship with the courts

Ethical problems are ‘hidden’ in four of the skills assessments. Students are expected to act within the confines of the code in addressing these problems.

Whilst advocacy is viewed as the primary skill of the barrister, more and more, counsel are being required to advise and assist their clients to resolve disputes out of court and avoid the costs, time and possible adverse publicity of a trial. Knowledge and understanding of mediation and negotiation and practice in the skills of mediation, advocacy and negotiation are fundamental for any barrister irrespective of his or her specialisations but are most commonly required by those practising at the commercial and family Bar. This module develops your knowledge and skills in a variety of contexts including contract, negligence and nuisance cases. The focus is on enabling you to plan and prepare for a mediation or negotiation within the time constraints common to life at the Bar and then providing you with the opportunity to practise your skills in class.

Getting ‘on your feet’ in court for the first time in your own right is a daunting experience, and all Barristers have war-stories to tell of Judges who have refused to hear them, or thrown out a poorly constructed argument, or seemed to be almost speaking in code to a fresh-faced new Counsel. The Criminal Courts are amongst the fastest-moving, busiest courts in the country and Criminal Barristers are expected to be fully prepared and efficient at every turn.
This module is designed to introduce you to a representative sample of  the hearings and applications you might find yourself dealing with in your second-six months of pupillage and the first few years of practice. Over the course of 7 lectures and corresponding small group sessions, you could (for example) fight for Public Interest Immunity in a drugs case, argue for an abuse of process, defend a particularly well-deserved ASBO or attempt to exclude unfairly obtained evidence. The emphasis is on the practical application of the law, and the assessment reflects this with advocacy, conference and negotiation frequently appearing.

The aim of the module is to provide you with a general, basic overview of the main aspects of company law e.g. directors’ duties within a practical framework, which will prepare them for the kind of demands they might encounter once they enter pupillage and practice.

You will be assessed on your ability to write an opinion and, if appropriate, settle appropriate paperwork in a matter involving one or more company law issues.

The aim of the module is to provide you with a general overview of the main aspects of Employment Law within a practical framework, which will prepare you for the kind of demands you might encounter once you enter pupillage and practice.

Family law truly is an organic area of the law, with major changes in every area through statute or case law in the last few years. The BVC Family Law Option focuses on Ancillary Relief – the financial provision parties receive on divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership. Who can forget Mrs. Miller who last year was awarded 1/6 of her husband’s capital assets even though they had only been married 2 years 9 months? What was the reasoning behind this?

We examine how the courts approach financial relief and how to settle at a reasonable level. The module also looks at Domestic Violence in a practical context – how to gain an injunction and how to draft orders and undertakings. We also deal with Private and Public Child law through conference, negotiation and drafting of consent orders – orders reached by agreement between the parties.

This is a practical module aimed at putting a student in a position where they can start their pupillage with a good grounding in the law and the tools  they will regularly need at the junior bar.      

In this module you will study areas of IP law you are most likely to come across in practice.  Copyright looks at the protection of artistic works – from the traditional books, paintings, and sculptures, to the more contemporary films, sound recordings, computer software, and web sites.  Trade marks law is about the protection of business reputations through the use of brands and logos.  Passing off is an alternative way of protecting business reputations, and breach of confidence looks at privacy and confidentiality in UK law.  Classroom activities include running conferences and advising a client biographer, negotiating a business settlement regarding trademark infringement, making an application for an interim injunction in court, and drafting opinions advising on tricky issues of IP law.

This option is designed for those who are interested in private International Trade Law. The module is taught using realistic briefs and provides you with an insight into a number of areas of international trade law and the practices of the Admiralty and Commercial Courts.
The module covers the following areas:

• International Sale of Goods - the contracts and terms found in sale contracts involving an international element
• Letters of Credit - the method of financing the sale contract and the obligations on the banks and parties
• Carriage of Goods by Sea - who has a right to sue the sea carrier of the goods, the obligations on the sea carrier of the goods and whether the sea carrier can sue anyone for their losses
• Jurisdiction and Law - in which country a claim can be brought and which law will be applied to the claim
• Arbitration - the procedures that apply to an arbitration of a claim

The module is designed to make you research and use case law, statute law and international conventions. It is taught in a practical way and requires students to think of commercial solutions to problems.

This option provides you with an opportunity to tackle a range of public law and human rights cases and deal with the practical and legal issues which arise. The subject matter is fairly wide with a bias towards Homelessness and Social Welfare Law.  Areas of law covered include prison law; homelessness; and the law affecting Gypsies and Travelers.

You will receive a copy of Judicial Review Proceedings: A Practitioner’s Guide by Jonathan Manning (Legal Action Group). In addition, you will be expected to consult other practitioners’ texts and textbooks.

The assessment takes the form of the drafting a claim for Judicial Review.

The personal injury and clinical negligence option covers the essential areas for a pupil embarking on personal injury practice at the Bar. It looks in detail at road traffic accidents, trips and slips and accidents at work. This is both in term of ordinary claims and those by dependants in respect of fatal accidents such as death from asbestosis, as considered by the House of Lords in Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services. The intricacies of quantum and assessing future losses using Ogden tables are considered in detail. The module is also an introduction to clinical negligence including understanding medical jargon and the difficulties of proving causation.

This option covers chancery procedure, landlord and tenant disputes, mortgage possession proceedings equitable remedies, property disputes, contentious probate, and trusts disputes. The module involves advocacy, advice and drafting for residential possession proceedings, and advice and/or drafting on the legislation protecting business tenants, disputes over restrictive covenants, rights of way and boundaries, the challenging of a will, the interpretation of a trust and a claim for breach of trust.

This module is suitable for those students who are interested in going into traditional property-based chancery sets, or sets specialising in landlord and tenant and broader property law.

Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR will give students a insight into the new practices with an emphasis on mediation.  Students will attend a lecture which will focus on some recent developments of ADR and how lawyers are involved within the practice and specifically on how to advise and conduct a mediation.  Students will then undertake a practical mediation in a multi-party dispute.  It is a matter of time before ADR is regular feature of life at the Bar and students will be able use many of the skills of the BVC and learn new techniques in dispute resolution.