Inns of Court

Organizations that provide preparatory education for English law students in order to teach them to practice in court.

Inns of Court were founded in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Membership in an inn is tantamount to membership in an integrated bar association in the United States. Inns of Court have a common council of legal education, which gives lectures and holds examinations. Currently, inns have the exclusive authority to confer the degree of barrister-at-law, a prerequisite to practice as an advocate or counsel in the superior courts in England.

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