Disadvantaged students to be given place on The Bar of Ireland programme

Schools participating in an equal opportunities programme have been invited to nominate students for a The Bar of Ireland programme in order to help disadvantaged students pursue a career in law.

The Bar will hold a lottery to allocate twenty of 100 places on its week-long Transition Year programme to students nominated by schools in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) scheme.

Sara Moorhead SC, programme co-ordinator for The Bar of Ireland, told the Irish Independent that the initiative would improve social inclusion.

Ms Moorhead said that The Bar’s Transition Year programme has been “very much connections-based” in the past and that it “was first come, first served, so colleagues would get their kids in”.

She added: “We don’t want to be seen to be putting up a drawbridge. Don’t believe that your daddy has to be a judge and your mummy has to be a senior counsel so you can be a barrister.”

Students on the week-long programme will shadow barristers, visit and tour courtrooms and the King’s Inns, and take part in Q&As with speakers such as the Chief Justice of Ireland, Susan Denham. On the last day, The Bar will host a series of mock trials.

The programme accepts only one student per school.

Schools should submit applications to The Bar of Ireland before Wednesday 16 December. Further information is available on The Bar’s website.