217. (1) Notwithstanding any other enactment, the Authority may by regulation provide that—

(a) a barrister seeking to be admitted as a solicitor, or

(b) a solicitor seeking to become a barrister,

be exempted from an admission requirement specified in the regulation, where the Authority is of the opinion that that admission requirement is, in the case of that barrister or solicitor, unnecessary.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under that subsection may provide that a legal practitioner referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection be exempted from an admission requirement that he or she—

(a) attend at a course of education or training,

(b) sit and pass an examination, or

(c) serve a period of apprenticeship or pupillage, or a portion of such period.

(3) Regulations under subsection (1) may provide different exemptions in relation to different legal practitioners or classes of legal practitioner.

(4) For the purpose of this section, an admission requirement, in the case of a legal practitioner referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1), is unnecessary where—

(a) the admission requirement is in place for the purpose of ensuring that a person seeking to be admitted as a solicitor or to become a barrister, as the case may be, is in possession of particular knowledge, skill or experience, and

(b) the legal practitioner concerned is already in possession of that knowledge, skill or experience by virtue of—

(i) the educational qualifications and training that have previously been obtained by him or her, including those obtained in order for him or her to have become a barrister or to have been admitted as a solicitor, as the case may be, and

(ii) the experience in the provision of legal services obtained by him or her as a practising barrister or a practising solicitor, as the case may be.

(5) Before making regulations under subsection (1), the Authority shall consult with—

(a) the Law Society,

(b) the Bar Council,

(c) the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, and

(d) such other body or institution concerned with the provision of legal education which in the opinion of the Authority should be consulted.

(6) The following shall ensure that the admission requirements concerned are consistent with regulations made under this section:

(a) the Honorable Society of King’s Inns and the Bar Council, in relation to the admission requirements relating to the barristers’ profession;

(b) the Law Society, in relation to the admission requirements relating to the solicitors’ profession;

(c) such other body, being empowered to establish admission requirements relating to the barristers’ profession or the solicitors’ profession, as the Minister may specify by regulation.

(7) In this section—

“admission requirements”—

(a) in relation to the solicitors’ profession, means the requirements (including those relating to education and training) that a person is required to fulfil before he or she can be admitted as a solicitor, and

(b) in relation to the barristers’ profession, means the requirements (including those relating to education and training) that a person is required to fulfil before he or she becomes entitled to practise as a barrister,

and, for the purpose of this definition, also includes any requirement under a Professional Code that a person undertake any training or serve a period of apprenticeship or pupillage following his or her admission as a solicitor or becoming a barrister, as the case may be.