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An 'Inn' side view

There are four Inns of Court: Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Gray's Inn. These societies have the sole right to call men and women to the Bar, and to admit them to the degree of barrister-at-law. Once admitted, and having completed twelve months' pupillage, barristers have the right of audience in every court in England and Wales.

The membership of the Inn consists of Masters of the Bench, known as benchers, and barristers and students. The Inn is governed by the benchers, who meet regularly. Every year they elect one of their number as 'Master Treasurer', who becomes the executive head of the Inn and deals with all matters of administration. The administrative centre of the Inn is the Treasury Office headed by the Under Treasurer or Sub Treasurer. His considerable staff includes a Head of Education and Training or Deputy Under Treasurer (Students or Education), who deals with the organisation of student affairs and with student matters and support.

The choice of Inn is really a matter of personal preference, for although each may be different in atmosphere, organisation or architecture, they all provide the same facilities and services to students, pupils and their members generally. The Inns also have increasing responsibility for Continuing Professional Development in the form of Advocacy and Ethics courses, for pupils and new practitioners.

A little history of the four inns

It was probably early in the 14th century that the Inns first took shape. 'Inn' (or 'hospitium') then meant a town house or mansion, and in particular a mansion used as a hostel for students. The Inns came to provide all that was needed for practice at the Bar. There were chambers to live and work in, a hall to eat and drink in, a chapel or church to pray in, and a library to consult books in.

The formal records of Lincoln's Inn go back continuously to 1422, although it is known that the Inn had already been in existence for sometime before then. Lincoln's Inn probably takes its name from Henry de Lacy, third Earl of Lincoln (died 1311) who seems to have been the Inn's patron. The Old Hall of the Inn dates back to 1485.

The Temple derives its name, and much of its layout and social organisation from the Knights Templars, an order of warrior monks founded in 1118. They acquired land from Fleet Street to the Thames where they built an extensive monastery, but the order was abolished in 1312. By the middle of the 14th century the Middle Temple and Inner Temple were already established on the site as two separate societies of the 'Apprentices at Law' or the 'students and professors of the Common Law', providing their members with education and accommodation. Middle Temple Hall was built in the 1560s and is one of the great glories of Tudor architecture with a massive double hammer-beam roof.

The first habitation known to have been on or close to the site of the present Hall of Gray's Inn was a manor house owned by Sir Reginald de Gray who died in 1308. As with all the Inns, Gray's Inn does not have a proven year of foundation. However, there are records of members of Gray's Inn, Middle Temple and Inner Temple graduating as serjeants-at-law in 1388.

Students

All the Inns provide similar support for their student members. The criteria for joining an Inn are identical, namely a degree in law or a non-law degree (2:2 or better) plus the Common Professional Examination or Postgraduate Diploma in Law. Each student is allocated a sponsor, a practising member of the Bar, who can provide advice and assistance on many matters to do with the legal profession and the Inn.

The Inns have extensive libraries as well as dining halls. They run advocacy training courses, in the Inn and at Windsor and Northampton, both for BVC students and for pupils, and provide scholarships for both the CPE and BVC years, totalling over £2,000,000 each year. The closing date to apply for a CPE scholarship is the end of May each year and for the BVC, the beginning of November each year (the same date as that to apply through CACH for a BVC place) for the course the following September, for example 3 November 2001 for the 2002 BVC.

Once a student has completed the academic stage of training by obtaining an appropriate law degree or conversion course qualification, the next stage is to join the Inn, which can be undertaken during the LLB or the CPE year, and to undertake the Bar Vocational Course. It is during the BVC that students have the most contact with the Inn. They must complete twelve qualifying sessions which consist of dining in Hall and are combined with some form of educational content often in the form of lectures, moots, debates or concerts, and dining together with benchers and barristers (either called Domus nights or All Inn Dining nights). Special arrangements are made for those students studying the BVC at institutions outside London, in the form of Education Days.

Having passed the BVC and completed the qualifying sessions the student is called to the Bar in an ancient ceremony in Hall. Twelve months' pupillage follows with a pupil supervisor either in chambers or in the employed field.

All the Inns have student departments and can be contacted as listed below: