Pakistan: Large number of TQL applications
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is pausing work on new applications from foreign lawyers looking to requalify as barristers as it continues to struggle with the number of them, Legal Futures can reveal.
There will be an exemption for those who have evidence of an offer of pupillage, a place in chambers and other employment for which they need a practising certificate.
The pause will allow the BSB to handle existing applications, consult on changes to the rules around them and streamline its processes.
It has not put an end-date on this but the pause will be long enough to allow for the consultation and then the application to the Legal Services Board for approval of any changes, which is likely to mean several months.
We have been reporting since late 2023 [1] about the pressure on the regulator’s authorisation team to deal with large numbers of applications for admission to the Bar as a transferring qualified lawyer (TQL) and the impact on its other work.
The surge has come mainly from the Indian sub-continent, particularly Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the BSB’s principal concern has been that many apply with no intention to practise in England and Wales – but that there is a benefit to having the status.
This is why those who can prove why they need to requalify will still be able to apply. The BSB is stressing too that there will be no impact on individual cases where reciprocal arrangements are in place or on international arbitration cases seated in England and Wales.
The BSB rules currently do not require evidence of an intention to practise in England and Wales.
There are over 30 different types of applications that individuals and the nearly 500 organisations the BSB authorises can make and TQLs are the largest by volume (29% of those received during the year to 31 March 2026, down from 40% the year before).
The BSB set up a taskforce and put in more resources to cope and this has helped cleared the backlog of applications from before November 2023. These are generally
Over 700 TQL applications were processed in the year to 31 March 2026 – three times more than in the past few years – but there is still a backlog and the authorisations team is still well below its target for timelineness in completing them.
It has received 957 new TQL applications over the past two years. They tend to be complex matters to process.
In his last report to the main board of the BSB, in July, director general Phil Goldring wrote: “We also need to give assurance that transferring qualified lawyers meet the requisite standards for entry to the Bar and so we are reviewing our approach to how we make authorisation decisions.”
In a statement about the pause, he added: “We need to make changes to our processes and rules to ensure the system is more focused on those who will practise in the jurisdiction. This will also help to reduce the large backlog of applications already in the system.
“The intention is in no way to discourage anyone who can demonstrate they have the required skills and route to practise in England and Wales from applying. However, we wish to focus our resources on those who have this realistic prospect of successfully doing so.”