Barristers

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is not expecting the introduction of entity regulation to lead to many barristers joining forces in a single business, it has emerged.

Dr Vanessa Davies, director of the Bar Standards Board (BSB), has made it clear that the regulator will push for more independence in the future.

The Legal Services Board is to hire an external accountant to examine how the Law Society and other regulators spend money raised through compulsory practising certificate fees.

Two barristers caught up in high-profile disciplinary actions have referred complaints about lack of funding from the Bar Mutual indemnity fund to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), it has emerged.

A barrister portal scheme operated by the North West Legal Consortium, a group of over 30 local authorities, has been condemned as “scandalous” by the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks (IBC).

The Legal Ombudsman has announced that it will be reviewing its internal guidance after a barrister was cleared of misconduct because LeO failed to share information.

Law firms are imposing contracts on barristers they would never sign themselves, the chair of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks (IBC) has said. One term obliges solicitors only to use their “best endeavours” to pay counsel.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) and ILEX Professional Standards (IPS) are contacting research organisations to prepare the way for an independent review of advocacy in the youth courts.

Tax barristers who have evidence of colleagues breaking the rules should report it to the Bar Standards Board (BSB), chief executive Dr Vanessa Davies has said.

The Bar’s disciplinary tribunal was right to fine the head of a pupillage committee at a London chambers who ignored 98 online applications, the Visitors to the Inns of Court have ruled.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a warning to solicitors and barristers over the need to keep personal information secure, especially paper files, in the wake of “a number of data breaches” in recent months.

The High Court has quashed the decision of a Bar disciplinary tribunal, which resulted in a barrister being disbarred and fined £3,000, following accusations that he failed to disclose criminal convictions.

Solicitors have been accused of using “bullying” tactics to impose their own contractual terms on barristers.

The Bar Standards (BSB) has promised to research “the need for other quality assurance schemes and/or accreditation schemes” so the public can have confidence in barristers.

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has said the Bar Council’s response to the Jeffrey review illustrated its “extreme reluctance” to “look forward and adapt to market conditions”.