Raising The Bar
The report “Raising the Bar” produced by the ATC, the forerunner of the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, was the first major research project in England and Wales to focus on how best to train advocates in the handling of vulnerable people in court.
Drawn from evidence gathered over a period of 20 months from experts including practitioners, members of the judiciary, intermediaries, psychiatrists, officials from the Ministry of Justice and social workers, the report made 48 recommendations both for the Bar and for other bodies.
The report also includes a series of toolkits, which were designed to be used by advocates as they prepared to question vulnerable people in court.
Since this time, the ICCA has developed a national training course to teach criminal and family practitioners how best to approach the cross-examination of child and vulnerable witnesses.
