Q2: The Bar Vocational Course
What are your views on the BVC?
posted by tor at 7:01 PM
Saturday, November 26, 2005
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4 Comments:
I found the BVC to be overpriced and rather drawn out. It's definitely possible to have a part-time job or do lots of pro bono work as well as do a good job of the course.
I'm not sure there's any material distinction between the providers. They all have their weak points. Personally, I'd choose based on price, since it's such a large sum of money, and the amount of spare time you get so you can do other CV-enhancing or bankruptcy-avoiding things. In my experience, no-one really minds where you did the course.
One thing in favour of BPP, where I went, is that they have an excellent Pro Bono Unit.
A final suggestion - if you don't get pupillage early on, I think it would be worth doing the BVC part time. It takes up a lot less time (for example at BPP the classes are on occasional weekends) and it means you can get useful work experience and not end up massively in debt.
The BVC is not useless (some people will say it is but that is because they have forgotten how little they used to know, as the BVC stuff quickly becomes consolidated - the mark of a good course?). But it is not worth the large amount that it costs. It can be quite a time-consuming year if you are conscientious about it so think carefully about whether to take a part-time job or not.
Yeah, I agree with Dan: you whinge and complain while going through it (for good reason), but actually you do learn something by osmosis, and you don't perhaps appreciate that until afterwards. Even so, it is still a massive waste of time and money. Tor and Dan mentioned doing the course part time, I would support this. Even if you do it full time, it's very doable to work at the same time.
Just wanted to know if there are any BVC providers that you would recommend, which are the ones which should be avoided?
thanks
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