Transferring Lawyer applications

The following categories of legally qualified people may apply to be admitted to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer:

• Qualified Foreign Lawyers (as defined in the BSB Handbook)
• Qualified European Lawyers (as defined in the BSB Handbook)
• Registered European Lawyers (after three years' regular and effective practice)
• Persons who have been granted rights of audience by another Approved Regulator, other than the SRA
• Solicitors admitted and enrolled in England and Wales
• Teachers of the law of England and Wales

If you are unsure whether you fall within any of these categories, please contact us ([email protected]) to discuss your potential application.

We will need to create a profile for you on our CRM in order for you to access the online application form for admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer. In order for us to do so, please email [email protected] with the following details:

• your full name and title (including professional title, where appropriate)
• your full postal address (including post code/zip code) and
• your contact email address (this will be used by us to contact you throughout the application process)

We will confirm your CRM Contact number by return of email, once your profile has been created. We aim to respond to these requests within five working days.

The online application form for admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer is available on the MyBar portal.

Once you have obtained a CRM profile, please log in to the portal and select ‘Online application for transferring Lawyers’ and ‘Transferring Qualified Lawyer (NEW)’ to begin your application. 

The previous version of the application form is now marked as 'DO NOT USE' - this is to direct applicants to use the new version of the form. If you have submitted your application on the previous version of the application form, it will still be processed and we will contact you if we require any further information or supporting documents.

The application guidelines include guidance on how applications are assessed, supporting document requirements, and applicant type/jurisdiction-specific exemptions.

Other sources of guidance

The Professional Statement

The Curriculum and Assessment Strategy

The Bar Standards Board Handbook - Part 4: Qualification Rules

The Bar Qualification Manual - Part 7: Transferring Qualified Lawyers

If you have not paid the application fee of £575, please do so once your application has been submitted via the MyBar portal.

Our Policy on Application Fee Payments, Waivers and Refunds includes guidance on:

• making application fee payments by bank transfer (BACS) or credit/debit card
• fee waivers
• refunds

If you have submitted a fee waiver request, this will be dealt with by a member of the Authorisations Team when they begin assessing your substantive application. 

Please refer to the application guidelines as you prepare your application and collate any required supporting documents.

If you have submitted an online application as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer, your application will not be processed until we have received all necessary supporting documents including:

• your Certificate of Good Standing from each regulator/professional body you are regulated by/registered with. Please note that we cannot accept an Admission Certificate as a replacement for this;
• your chronological CV setting out your educational qualifications and your employment history (including a list of duties/tasks for each role and the job title of the role); and
• Certificates and transcripts of any formal qualifications listed in your application from undergraduate degree level onwards relevant to your legal experience and practice (eg academic, vocational, professional awards). Transcripts should include modules studied, marks obtained, the overall classification/grade of your award, and your dates of study.

Please note that you must submit certified English language translations for any documents that were not originally produced in English.

Due to the volume of applications at present, we have very limited capacity to consider requests for priority processing of Transferring Qualified Lawyer applications. As far as possible, we will continue to consider such requests:

• if the outcome is required to confirm a pupillage, tenancy, or employment offer which you are able to evidence (eg by providing a copy of an offer email or letter) with a confirmed starting date.

We cannot otherwise guarantee to prioritise any applications, at present.

Provided that you fall within the above categories, you will need to contact us (in writing) at [email protected] to submit a prioritisation request with relevant evidence.

You will need to set out any grounds for the urgent processing of your application and confirm the date by which a decision is required.

If you have already submitted a request for your application to be prioritised, this will be reviewed as soon as possible to provide you with an anticipated decision date for your application.

Submission of a request for your application to be prioritised is not a guarantee that we will be able to accommodate this - we will review your request and evidence and confirm our decision by email in due course.

We will be processing non-prioritised outstanding applications based on the date that the application is regarded as ‘complete’ (ie when we have received all relevant supporting documents and payment of the application fee) so we will be dealing with the oldest outstanding applications first (after any priority cases at that time).

If you would prefer to withdraw your application for admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer, please contact us directly on [email protected]. If you have already paid an application fee and your application has not been processed by us, we will arrange a refund of that payment.

In order to arrange a refund, we will need you to provide the following details:

Please note that you must provide us with the bank details used to make the original payment. You should ensure that the bank details and payment reference match exactly otherwise the automated payment system will reject the payment.