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INTRODUCTION
Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court which have exclusive right to call members to the Bar. It is a professional society and membership organisation which educates and trains barristers, and provides a modern law library to members of all four Inns of Court.
Inns of Court members comprise a diverse group of people at any stage of their career, and all are welcome to use the Middle Temple Library:
*. Students, mainly those studying for their Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) but also the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)
*. Pupils - which is the on-the-job training for barristers - this could be within a set of chambers or an organisation as part of the employed Bar
*. New practitioners - those who have completed their year-long pupillage and who are practising in a set of chambers or employed in-house in another organisation
*. Experienced practitioners and QCs
*. Judges
*. Other members who do not practice as barristers, such as academics or even solicitors
One of the services we provide is legal research training which can be attended by members at any stage of their careers. We also provide services to clerks on behalf of their barristers, and other people employed by barristers and judges as assistants, support staff and librarians.
Bearing this diverse user-base in mind, it is not always straightforward designing legal research training which combines elements which appeal to this diversity, with differing skill sets and backgrounds. In this article I describe the legal research training I have developed at Middle Temple Library and discuss the challenges and successes. Throughout I offer advice to law librarians and legal information professionals when thinking about their own legal research training sessions.
PROMOTION
Librarians and legal information professionals spend a considerable amount of time planning and delivering legal research training sessions, so it is important to promote them in the most effective way possible. When working for an organisation such as an Inn of Court, it can be difficult to make your members aware of the training you have on offer - I am not offering training to anyone directly employed or studying for an accredited qualification...