Barristers

A pupil barrister and animal protection activist has created what is thought to be the first vegan barrister’s wig, made from hemp rather than horse hair.

The “power of the purse”, coming not from solicitors but from their clients, will “make the difference” in improving diversity at the Bar, a leading Black QC has said.

Direct access barristers can be looked down on, and ignored by legal directories, because they do not have “well-heeled” solicitors singing their praises, a leading family law specialist has argued.

The barrister who asked a fellow counsel to stop posting quotes from the Quran on LinkedIn has apologised and said they should not have sent the message.

An experienced barrister who appeared in two courts without having a practising certificate has been suspended for four months, having been fined twice in previous years for the same offence.

The head of Sharia law at a well-known chambers has expressed his shock after another barrister asked him to stop posting quotes from the Quran on LinkedIn.

The actions of a barrister suspended for three months for the “intentional sexual touching” of two junior colleagues could amount to sexual assault and unlawful harassment, a tribunal has found.

The Bar Council and Law Society have accused the Legal Services Board of failing to take into account the impact of the pandemic on the profession in its latest draft strategy.

A barrister specialising in civil and criminal tax disputes has set up a virtual chambers with the aim of making it the biggest of its kind by the end of next year.

The Legal Services Board is pushing ahead with plans to introduce continuing competence checks for lawyers. This could include feedback from consumers, judges and peers, assurance visits or revalidation.

A virtual set of tax and revenue-specialist barristers has multiplied from its two founders to 11 members since it launched last summer, with several based overseas as it looks to build a global practice.

The Legal Ombudsman is “setting itself up to fail” by proposing to give itself more work than it can cope with and asking for an “extraordinary high” budget increase of 19%.

The Legal Services Board has introduced new rules to ensure legal regulators explain more clearly how they spend the money they raise through the compulsory levies on lawyers.

The barrister who caused a storm of outrage for tweeting that “The Equality Act undermines school discipline by empowering the stroppy teenager of colour” has been expelled from his chambers.

Covid has flattened the number of new practising barristers and hit pupillages hard, but there was a sharp rise in the proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds.