Barristers

Sir Andrew Burns, a career diplomat, has been chosen to replace Baroness Ruth Deech as chair of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) from 1 January 2015.

The Court of Appeal has referred the conduct of a well-known criminal barrister to the Bar Standards Board, hitting out at his “breathtaking arrogance” despite overturning a contempt finding made against him.

The Bar Standards Board has followed the Solicitors Regulation Authority and proposed that the advocacy and litigation firms it hopes to regulate later this year should have indemnity cover of at least £500,000.

The Bar Council has announced that it will shortly be issuing guidance on the new consumer contract regulations – more than a month after they came into force and two months after the Law Society issued its guidance.

The Court of Appeal is to hear a disciplinary case which led to the Bar Standards Board being accused by Lord Justice Moses of “misleading conduct”. Meanwhile, a barrister convicted of tenancy fraud has been disbarred.

The number of tenancies available for newly qualified barristers fell dramatically in the most recent year for which figures are available – but not as badly as had been feared.

Barristers are looking at creating a wide range of legal businesses – with solicitors, paralegals and others – once the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) application to become an entity regulator is approved, it has emerged.

A pioneering direct access chambers in Cheltenham has attracted its first QC, who has urged fellow criminal silks to follow his lead in preparing for a growth in privately paying clients.

The Bar Standards Board has set itself a minimum target of 30% for diversity data collection from barristers on sexuality, religion and disability. It is also planning more work on the under-representation of women at the bar, and reports of harassment and discrimination.

A set of chambers specialising in direct access cases and working only on a fixed fee basis has opened in Cheltenham. Cotswold Barristers also claims to have landed the biggest direct access case so far.

A barrister who avoided paying over £77,000 in income tax and VAT was yesterday ordered to be disbarred. The five-person bar disciplinary panel found that Edward Agbaje had engaged in dishonest conduct.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is unlikely to become an ABS licensing authority until 2015 and will not be regulating non-ABS firms, such barrister-only practices, before October this year, it has emerged.

The Legal Services Board has told the government that if it wants to appoint ‘small business appeals champions’ for legal services, it should appoint them to the boards of the eight front-line regulators rather than the super-regulator.

Barristers who successfully defend themselves in disciplinary proceedings can claim their costs at a rate higher than that of a normal litigant in person, the High Court has ruled in a largely unsuccessful judicial review brought by the Bar Standards Board.

The introduction of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) is likely to be delayed yet again after four barristers won permission to appeal against the dismissal of their judicial review application by the High Court in January.