Barristers

The High Court has overturned a decision to suspend a barrister for failing to comply with a Legal Ombudsman direction – because he was already suspended at the time of the events.

Bar professional training course students have told the Bar Standards Board that its plans for online examinations risk discriminating against women, carers and the disabled.

The Bar Standards Board is to review its approach to policing barristers’ conduct outside of practice, including how they use social media, Legal Futures can reveal.

Some chambers may choose to continue operating virtually once the Covid-19 crisis passes, with “significant implications” for their support services and collegiality.

Female barristers have urged the courts and chambers to take action to avoid the coronavirus crisis leading to “further and disproportionate attrition of women from the Bar”.

The Legal Services Board has given the Bar Council a slap on the wrist for the comments it made in a Legal Futures article about staffing levels at the oversight regulator.

The Bar Standards Board has announced that Bar students will be able to take this year’s exams online – but barristers have expressed concern about the “astonishing” anti-cheating provisions.

A young barrister who runs a blog about mental health among lawyers has called for the five-year deadline for would-be barristers to get pupillages to be extended or scrapped.

A veteran barrister who “took advantage” of the Bar Standards Board by refusing to pay a fine for almost four years has been suspended for two months.

The Legal Services Board is planning to review a “random sample” of regulators’ disciplinary decisions to ensure the right processes and procedures are in place.

The Bar Council and Bar Standards Board have announced a series of measures – including furloughing – to make savings of more than £200,000 to support the profession during the Covid-19 crisis.

Seven of the eight frontline regulators have “confirmed their continued commitment” to the Legal Choices website, despite the Solicitors Regulation Authority no longer wanting to run it.

The future for the Bar is “bleak” if work streams and earnings do not improve, with over half of barristers now working less than 18 hours a week, the Bar Council has warned.

The Legal Services Board is launching a formal review of the Bar Standards Board’s leadership and decision-making in the wake of its controversial decision to stop funding the Legal Choices website.

Young barristers are being especially badly hit by the coronavirus crisis and they are unlikely to get much help from the government’s self-employment income support scheme.