Barristers

The chairman of the Bar Council has sent a strong message to solicitors about the need to challenge clients who discriminate against barristers because of gender, race or other bias.

The only female Afghan-born practising barrister revealed yesterday that she had been asked by a solicitor to return her brief because the client wanted “a white male barrister”.

The former national head of family law at Simpson Millar has set up his own firm and chosen to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board, which he described as a “good fit” for his business.

New rules which clearly limit the influence the Law Society can have on the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and the Bar Council on the Bar Standards Board, have been published.

Increased use of technology at the Bar and in the court system has left barristers as vulnerable to cyber-attacks as solicitors, the Bar Standards Board has warned.

The Bar Council has laid out the demoralised state of legal aid barristers as it urged the government to reverse key elements of LASPO.

The High Court has upheld the year-long suspension of a barrister who was captured on CCTV stealing a purse in a Cardiff night club after the BSB admitted to a procedural error.

Two dual-qualified lawyers have been reprimanded by the Bar Standards Board after receiving disciplinary sanctions for their work as solicitors.

Proposed changes to the system for appointing QCs are “too onerous” and “potentially counterproductive in addressing issues of diversity”, criminal barristers have warned.

The frontline regulators are making “very good progress” in improving price transparency, the Legal Services Board has said – but its consumer panel was far less impressed.