New Practitioners - 2024 Courses

The New Practitioners' programme applies to all barristers who commenced independent practice on or after 1 October 1997. 

In the first three full years of practice (either from taking up tenancy or commencing a 3rd six), newly qualified practitioners are required to complete 45 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) including at least 9 hours of Advocacy Training and 3 hours of Ethics.

The Inner Temple runs its New Practitioners' Advocacy Course twice each year, in April and June.

The New Practitioners courses will run as a mixture of online and in-person training events. There will be an in-person residential weekend in April and June 2024. As usual, the courses will be focused on handling expert witnesses, using a forensic accountancy case in April, and a medical case in June. The expert handling skills that the courses deal with are applicable to all fields of expertise, and all jurisdictions, including civil, crime and family.

The cost of the course will be £260, which includes accommodation and meals at the residential weekend, and transport by coach between London and the residential weekend venue for those requiring it.

Advocacy

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Course A

  • Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 April, 6pm-7.45pm - ONLINE Case Conference session (You will be assigned to one evening only).
    In this session will have the opportunity to pose questions to our experts ahead of the residential weekend.
  • Friday 26 April (6pm) to Sunday 28 April (1pm) - Residential Weekend - The Berystede Hotel & Spa, Ascot.
    You will have a  Case Analysis session (Friday evening), and be reviewed on examination/cross-examination of expert witnesses (Saturday) and Lay witness handling/closing speeches (Sunday), using the Advanced Hampel Method.

Course B

  • Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 June, 6pm-7.45pm - ONLINE Case Conference session (you will be assigned to one evening only).
    In this session will have the opportunity to pose questions to our experts ahead of the residential weekend.
  • Friday 14 June (6pm) to Sunday 16 June (1pm) - Residential Weekend - The Berystede Hotel & Spa, Ascot.
    You will have a Case Analysis session (Friday evening), and be reviewed on examination/cross-examination of expert witnesses (Saturday) and Lay witness handling/closing speeches (Sunday) using the Advanced Hampel Method.

 

Please note it is not possible to mix and match between sessions from Course A and Course B - you will need to be able to attend the case conference evening and the residential weekend for the same course. The course will provide you with 9 full advocacy hours of CPD, and 8 ‘general’ hours of CPD, which both count towards the 45 hours of CPD you need to complete in your New Practitioner period.

Ethics

By The Honourable Mr Justice Griffiths

Introduction to the Inner Temple New Practitioners' Ethics Course

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Our Ethics Course will run as "live" online sessions, chaired by established practitioners, in which ethical questions will be discussed with other New Practitioners (NPs).

There is also some background reading to be done in advance of the course, and two short online interactive sessions (one before and one after the live session), which can be completed in your own time.

All sessions will take place in the evening from approx. 6-7.30pm.

2024 Ethics Course Dates:

  • Thursday 9 May 
  • Tuesday 14 May 
  • Wednesday 15 May 
  • Tuesday 21 May 
  • Wednesday 22 May 
  • Wednesday 5 June 
  • Wednesday 19 June 
  • Tuesday 25 June 
  • Wednesday 3 July 
  • Tuesday 9 July 
  • Tuesday 23 July 

NPs can attend any of the ethics sessions, regardless of which advocacy course they are on - it does not matter if you do the ethics course before or after the advocacy course. The course will provide you with the full 3 hours of ethics CPD that you are required to complete as part of your 45 hours CPD as a New Practitioner. There is no additional charge for the ethics course for those taking part in the advocacy course. For any NPs needing to do the ethics course but not advocacy, there will be a nominal charge of £10 to cover registration.

As with the advocacy course, there will be civil and criminal groups available. There is also a possibility that we may be able to offer specialist Employed and Family groups for the live ethics sessions.

We will be doing all we can to ensure as many members as possible are able to complete a course. Priority will be given to those in their final NP year, and those for whom 2022 (or earlier) was their final NP year.

Booking the course

In the interest of fairness, we operate a ballot system. You will be able to indicate your situation and preferences for the course via an online survey.

To register please click here: ENTER BALLOT

The ballot will close at midnight on Thursday 14 December 2023

Feedback and comments from New Practitioners who attended the course in previous years

On probably the sunniest weekend this year so far, I was somewhat apprehensive about spending my time engaged in advocacy training. My fears were thankfully short lived as I became quickly absorbed into the supportive atmosphere that inevitably accompanies such training with Inner Temple. Aside from the obvious benefit of having our skills honed and newly acquired bad habits drawn to our attention by experienced practitioners and Judges, the most tangible benefit of this course was the unique opportunity to interact with recognised experts and discover, in a friendly environment, the skills required to extract maximum advantage from both your own and opposition expert witnesses. Aside from the 'educational' aspects of the weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed becoming acquainted with other new practitioners and the opportunity to socialise with the advocacy trainers and experts in the relaxed atmosphere, not forgetting the after dinner speech by Inner Temple's very own Rory Bremner!
After a busy weekend of Advocacy exercises, seminars and socialising the Ethics element of the course is the final session delivered on Sunday. I must say the prospect of discussing ethics after such a long weekend did not provoke a huge amount of enthusiasm. The session was, however, fascinating. Given that most of us on the course had been in practice for over a year being able to relate real-life ethical dilemmas in this group was invaluable. Nothing is black and white when an ethical problem arises and this session taught useful and practical skills to deal with such situations. It was a well-structured and thought-provoking session that really finished the weekend on a high note.

For further information

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Pupils and New Practitioners

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Pupils and New Practitioners Courses

Pupils and New Practitioners

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Pupils and New Practitioners Courses