King’s Inns is inviting responses from interested parties as part of a consultation process on the draft Statement of Competencies of a Barrister.

The benefit of having a statement of competencies is that it will allow King’s Inns to map those competencies against what is currently taught and assessed on the Barrister–at–Law degree course.

The move will also help King’s Inns to identify any knowledge gaps and place correct emphasis on the key skills and knowledge that a barrister requires at the point at which they enter the profession.

The draft statement of competencies is comprised of four categories: 

1.  Legal knowledge,

2.  Legal skills,

3.  Professional competencies,

4.  Personal attributes.

The competencies within each of these four categories, when combined, represent the competencies required of a barrister.  

Feedback

Feedback may be submitted email to COMPETENCIES@KINGSINNS.IE.  

The deadline for feedback submission or participating in the online survey is 4pm on Monday 25 May, 2020.

The Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) is reviewing legal education and training pursuant to section 34 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.

In the context of that review, the LSRA commissioned a report by the consultants Hook Tangaza.

Far-reaching

The Hook Tangaza report made a number of far–reaching recommendations, one of which was that there ought to be clearly defined statements of the required competencies of legal professionals, both solicitors and barristers.

This background has led to the commitment by King’s Inns to engage with stakeholders to draft the statement of the required competencies of a barrister.

King’s Inns commissioned market research and consultancy group Kantar to carry out in–depth interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders in late 2019.

In-depth interviews

They held five in–depth interviews with senior members of the judiciary from various courts.

They also held eight focus groups with the following categories of stakeholders:

1.  Judges of the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court,

2.  Circuit and District Court judges,

3.  Senior practising barristers, 

4.  Barristers who take on newly qualified barristers as pupils,

5.  Junior barristers in years 3–7 of practice,

6.  Employed barristers,

7.  Solicitors practising in litigation,

8.  Barristers practising on Circuit outside Dublin.