King’s Inns Statement: Thursday 19 November 2020

The Honorable Society of King’s Inns acknowledges the publication of the LSRA report on ‘Setting Standards: Legal Practitioner Education and Training‘.

King’s Inns acknowledges the publication today, Thursday 19 November 2020, by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority of its second report on the education and training of legal practitioners, including barristers (view the report here). The Council of King’s Inns will consider the report in full in due course.

King’s Inns has already developed a statement of the required competencies of a barrister, which aligns with a key recommendation in today’s report. Following the publication of the initial LSRA report on the education and training of legal practitioners in 2018, King’s Inns, recognising the importance of keeping under review the necessary skill set for a barrister, actively committed to developing a statement of competencies for barristers.

Following extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders, the wider legal community and the public, a Statement of the Required Competencies of a Barrister was approved by the Council of King’s Inns earlier this month and is available here.

The Statement is comprised of four categories:

• Legal knowledge;
• Legal skills;
• Professional competencies;
• Personal attributes.

Hugh O’Neill SC, Chair of the Council of King’s Inns, said:

“These competencies will enable us to continue to adapt and build on the high–quality education and training delivered by King’s Inns. The publication of this new statement of competencies will allow us to explicitly align our education and training for newly qualified barristers with the competency framework. King’s Inns are looking forward to continuing to work closely with the LSRA”.

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