Call Guidelines

Please read the guidelines below before filling out your Call application. If you have any queries about Call to the Bar, please contact Elaina Soong on 0207 797 8213.

We mainly correspond by email so please ensure that you have included an up-to-date email address. Please regularly check your email including your junk folder in case we try to contact you. Please ensure that you add our email into your addresses to ensure that they do not go to your junk folder.

Please note that you are only allocated a place on Call night when we receive a fully completed application. When you have been allocated a place, we will email you a confirmation.

Call Forms
Dates and BVC Results
Call Fee
Tickets
Master of the Bench
Closing Date
Curriculum Vitae
Final Checklist
Call Ceremony
Titles

Call Forms

Please download and fill in all the forms:

Guidelines for Call
Call Checklist
Call Form
Duke of Edinburgh Scholarship
Ticket Booking Form

Dates and BVC Results

The four Call dates for 2008 are:

Trinity Call - Thursday 24 July
Deferred Trinity Call - Thursday 9 October
Michaelmas Call - Thursday 27 November

At the time of Call to the Bar, you must have been certified as having successfully completed the Bar Vocational Course. Therefore, the date you may be Called will be determined by when you pass the course and when your results are published.

Please check the dates for the publication of results with your BVC institution and please allow a minimum of two weeks between result date and Call date.

For administrative reasons you must apply for a Call date before you know your results. It is accepted that changes may therefore arise out of the need for re-sits.

Call Fee

The £75 Call fee is to be paid upon submission of your application. Please make your cheque payable to "Inner Temple". If you have been awarded a Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Scholarship, you do not need to pay your call fee.

Tickets

You will need to buy a ticket for yourself at £12.80. You will be allocated a total of up to three guest tickets at £18.00 each. Depending on numbers, it is possible that additional guest tickets will become available for the Call Nights. However, we will not know if any are available until a week prior to the Call Night.

Master of the Bench

A Master of the Bench will need to propose your Call. This involves signing your Bar Proposal Form and moving your Call at the Call Night (see Call Ceremony below). If you have meet a Master of the Bench at a Dining Night or educational Qualifying Session, you can approach them directly. However, if you have not meet a Master of the Bench or do not feel comfortable approaching them, the Education & Training Department can allocate you one.

In order to be allocated a Master of the Bench you will be asked to provide two letters of reference. It is very important that these reference letters are on headed paper and they must be from a professional person stating who they are and in what capacity they know you. Please note: your referee must have known you for at least one year.

The reference should be addressed to the Masters of the Bench and be a specific recommendation for Call to the Bar. Where possible, the reference should be typed and on headed paper. You will then be asked to keep the originals and to send copies of these to the Education and Training Department for approval.

Once the letters are checked, you will be given the details of a Master of the Bench to contact and make an appointment with. You need to take the letters with you to the appointment with the Bencher. Once the form is signed you may submit the application. If you personally know a Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple and you wish him/her to move your Call, you may contact him/her yourself. Please make sure that you send a copy of the correspondence with him/her to the Education & Training department.

Closing Date for all Calls

You may submit your application as soon as it has been signed by your Bencher. However, the very latest it will be accepted is Friday 14 April .

It is expected that Trinity Call will be over-subscribed. As places are limited, they will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The sooner you submit your application, the better for you! That said, please note that being Called at the Deferred Trinity or Michaelmas Call nights will NOT prevent you starting pupillage in the Autumn or have an adverse effect on your subsequent career through loss of seniority.

Curriculum Vitae

Please include a current CV with your application. This must detail all your qualifications, places of study and any further professional qualifications. If you attended Oxford, Cambridge or London Universities, please also include your college.

Final Checklist

Eleven qualifying sessions completed or further sessions booked.

Your application should include:

Completed "Call to the Bar" form, signed by Bencher sponsor with confirmation of his/her attendance
Current CV
Cheque for £75 for Call fee
Cheque for tickets - £18.00 per guest, £12.80 per student

Please return your application to:

Elaina Soong
Education & Training Department
Treasury Building
Inner Temple
London EC4Y 7HL

Call Ceremony

Calls are held in Temple Church and are followed by a champagne reception. The procedure for the ceremony is that students are lined up in order of admission to the Inn, unless they have obtained an Outstanding in the BVC in which case you will be called first. The Sub-Treasurer reads out your name and qualifications, and the name of the Bencher proposing you, at which point the Master of the Bench who signed your form stands up and says "Master Treasurer, I move his/her call".

The Treasurer hands you the Call certificate and you will nod to the Treasurer, nod to the Master of the Bench and return to your seat. If the proposing Bencher is not present at the ceremony, you will be allocated to another Bencher.

Titles - Holding yourself out as a Barrister

The Bar Council has recently published comprehensive guidance on what newly called barristers may or may not call themselves in compliance with the Bar's code of conduct. To download the guidelines, please click here.