27   Barristers

(1)  The Bar Council may, on application, grant a practising certificate to a legal practitioner authorising the practitioner to practise as a barrister.

(2)  A legal practitioner who does not hold a current practising certificate as a barrister may at any time apply to the Bar Council for a practising certificate unless there is in force an order of the Tribunal preventing the issue of the certificate.

(3)  A legal practitioner who holds a current practising certificate as a barrister may, during the prescribed period before the certificate expires, apply to the Bar Council for a new practising certificate.

(4)  Subsection (3) does not prevent the Bar Council from accepting an application made after the prescribed period and before the next 1 July.