 Gray 's Inn 's internal records date from 1569 , at which point there were four types of member ; those who had not yet been called to the Bar , Utter Barristers , Ancients and Readers . Utter Barristers were those who had been called to the Bar but were still studying , Ancients were those who were called to the Bar and were allowed to practise and Readers were those who had been called to the Bar , were allowed to practise and now played a part in educating law students at the Inns of Chancery and at Gray 's Inn itself . At the time Gray 's Inn was the odd one out amongst the Inns ; the others did not recognise Ancients as a degree of barrister and had Benchers roughly corresponding to the Readers used at Gray 's Inn ( although the positions were not identical ) . 
