A quick look at the education and training requirements for becoming a barrister in England and Wales is useful.
One of the purposes of the requirements is to ensure prospective barristers are able to demonstrate the competences outlined in the “Professional Statement for Barristers incorporating the Threshold Standard and Competences.”, which is also published by the BSB, describes the knowledge, skills and attributes that all barristers will have on “day one” of practice.
They will have to demonstrate originality in the application of knowledge, and a practical understanding of how law and practice is used in the solution of legal problems. A memorised answer may accurately state the relevant law and rules of procedure and practice. But no two factual situations are the same. The candidates will have to be able to apply to the factual situations in the examinations, the law and the rules.
And the advice to the candidates is consistent with the comments and observations made by the CLP examiners way back in 2017. These are available on theThe comments and observations were agreed to by the LPQB to be made public with the view of assisting candidates to better understand where they had gone wrong in the examination.