Your Best Practice Toolbox: Fundamental Bar Skills from the Experts
The Essentials Programme is a newly established initiative designed to provide barristers with accessible, practical training on the fundamental components of practice at the Bar. Its purpose is to equip barristers with a best practice toolbox of the core skills required in daily practice.
The Programme will feature experts in each field and deliver webinars across key practice areas—initially focusing on civil, criminal, and family streams, before expanding to others. It will also cover the essential skills of general practice at the Bar, including advocacy, ethics, and courtesy.
The structure consists of short webinars (45 minutes to 1 hour) delivered by leading experts. Topics will focus on specific, practical aspects of law that are often underexplored in traditional training programmes. Each webinar will be delivered live and made available on demand as CPD, allowing participants to upskill or refresh as needed.
The series is designed for Junior and Intermediate practitioners, as well as those unfamiliar with a topic or practice area but keen to learn how to effectively perform a core skill. It is equally valuable for those seeking a targeted refresher.
Topics
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
General Practice
- Preparing your cross-examination notes.
- Leading witnesses.
- Re-examination – the when and how.
- Courtroom courtesy.
- Refreshing memory and putting prior inconsistent statements.
- Experts - the importance of the High Court Expert Code of Conduct and how that informs preparing and cross-examining expert evidence.
Civil Law
- The basics of drafting pleadings.
- When and how to seek interrogatories.
- Seeking further and better particulars.
- Etiquette for Litigators.
- Arbitration.
Criminal Law
- Bail applications.
- Reviewing formal statements for admissibility issues.
- Pre-trial applications – evidential challenge.
- Pre-trial applications - s147.
- Pre-trial applications - challenges to searches.
- Pre-trial applications - propensity
- Briefing your client.
- The election of trial forum.
- Pre-trial advice to client.
- Advising your client on whether to give evidence.
- Pleas in mitigation.
- Applications for discharges without conviction.
- Running a sex trial.
- Running a proceeds of crime case.
This program is designed to work alongside Raising the Bar by providing smaller, bite-sized training on specific topics to develop a toolbox of core fundamental skills for barristers in each area of practice.
Upcoming webinars
The Essentials | Cross-Examination Notes
This webinar will focus on preparing for and producing notes to guide an effective cross examination. It will cover how to organise your notes and what you need to think about when preparing your cross-examination. Read more and register above.
The Essentials | Leading Evidence
This webinar will focus on the essential, foundational concepts of Leading Evidence. It is designed to be a “how to” correctly prepare to lead your evidence and conduct it. Read more and register above.
On Demand The Essentials Webinars
This recorded webinar will focus on arbitration’s essential, foundational concepts. It is designed as a “how-to guide” for preparing and conducting an arbitration. The webinar will cover what you need to know about arbitrations and also what steps you need to take throughout the preparation for an appearance at an arbitration. It is practically focused.
Presenters: Dr Anna Kirk, Timothy Lindsay and Damian Chesterman (Chair)
Published: 27 May 2025
Pleadings | CPD 1 hr
This recorded webinar will take you through the essential, foundational concepts of how to draft pleadings. It will cover the core rules on pleadings and also what steps you need to take throughout the preparation for drafting statements of claim, statements of defence and statements of reply. It is practically focused.
Presenters: Polly Pope and Kishen Kommu
Published: 4 June 2025