The Supreme Court is launching its first paid internship for aspiring lawyers from communities which are currently underrepresented at the Bar, in collaboration with the Bridging the Bar diversity initiative.
Eight Bridging the Bar candidates will be offered the opportunity to take part in a five-day placement, providing an unprecedented insight into the workings of the UK’s highest court. Throughout the week, the interns will observe cases, discuss legal arguments with justices, and gain insights and guidance from judicial assistants. Bridging the Bar will also run two days of preparatory coaching.
Applications will open on 10 June and close on 10 July 2021. The internships are expected to take place between October and December 2021, with exact dates to be confirmed. To take part, candidates are required to have completed or accepted an offer with the intention of completing the Bar Professional Training Course.
Vicky Fox, chief executive of the UK Supreme Court, said: ‘I am delighted to announce the launch of the Supreme Court’s first paid internship programme, which offers a real insight into the work of the Court… We are looking forward to learning from the interns and hope that the programme will provide an intellectually stimulating experience for participants and support them to pursue a career in the law.’
Eleanor Tack, head of marshalling and court related projects at Bridging the Bar, added: ‘I am very excited about this programme. It’s going to be a really challenging week for the candidates who will be asked to discuss legal arguments with the Judicial Assistants and Justices and give a presentation at the end. For this reason, only candidates of the highest quality will be selected, and we expect the competition to be extremely high.
‘We will not, however, be throwing our candidates in at the deep end alone! Bridging the Bar has organised pre-training with various workshops to ensure that our candidates can make the most out of their time with the Court.’
To find out more, visit bridgingthebar.org, and see here for further details on the internship.
