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BarristersBy Mrs Hilton

Role of Barrister

• Seen as the senior branch of the profession

• Major role is advocacy or speaking for someone at court

Barristers have been providing expert advice and advocacy since the 13th century. For many years they had a monopoly on the right to represent people in the higher courts. Although that monopoly has gone, the Bar remains a thriving profession offering high quality advice and advocacy.

How Barristers are Governed

• Governed by:• The Senate of Inns of

Court • And Bar (aka Bar

Council)

Inns

• Four Inns of Court Although barristers are primarily regulated by the Bar Standards Board, the Inns of Court have an important role in their education and training. Indeed, you can only be a barrister if you have been "Called to the Bar" by an Inn of Court. The Inns provide important library, training and dining facilities in London.

Inns

• There are four Inns of Court: Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Gray’s Inn.

The Inns provide support for barristers and student barristers through a range of educational activities, lunching and dining facilities, access to common rooms and gardens, and provision of various grants and scholarships. One of the key functions of the Inns is their responsibility for calling barristers to the Bar. Anyone wishing to train for the Bar must join one of the Inns and it is the Inns alone which have the power to call a student to the Bar. Alongside this responsibility, the Inns also have a role in administering disciplinary tribunals to deal with more serious complaints against barristers.

How to become a barrister

• 3 stages:• Academic• Vocational • Pupillage

• Academic Stage• This consists of an

undergraduate degree in law, or undergraduate degree in any other subject at the minimum of a 2ii. If you choose the route of an undergraduate degree in a subject other than Law you must complete a one year conversion course (CPE).

Vocational stage• Vocational Stage• You must join one of the four

Inns before you commence this stage of training. The Bar Vocational Course, one year full time or two years part time. Once you have successfully completed the BVC you will be Called to the Bar by your Inn. You will also have to undertake twelve qualifying sessions (previously known as "dining") before Call to the Bar.

• Those who are not solicitors, but have been licensed to argue in court, are said to have been "called to the Bar" or to have received a "call to the Bar".

Like being admitted or enrolled.

Pupillage stage

• Pupillage• Pupillage consists of

one year spent in an authorised pupillage training organisation (either barristers' chambers or another approved legal environment).

What is pupillage?• Pupillage is the final stage of the

route to qualification at the Bar, in which the pupil gains practical training under the supervision of an experienced barrister.

• Pupillage is divided into two parts: – the non-practising six months

during which pupils shadow, and work with, their approved pupil supervisor

– and the second practising six months when pupils, with their approved pupil supervisor’s permission, can undertake to supply legal services and exercise rights of audience.

What is mini-pupillage?• A mini-pupillage is a short period of

work experience (usually one week) in a set of chambers. Spending time in this way can provide an excellent insight into life as a barrister.

Relevant mini-pupillage experience can be of great benefit to pupillage applicants, as it gives the pupil an opportunity to impress members of chambers and to gain a better understanding of the different areas of practice as well as the “feel” of the set.

• These impressions are invaluable and cannot always be gleaned from websites and legal directories.

Dinners?• Dining - This continues to be the

main way that student barristers amass training units for "Call" (see above). By dining at his/her Inn of Court, the student barrister is expected to discuss professional issues with senior benchers, develop a network of useful professional contacts and take part in a range of educational events. Each dinner attracts one "Training Unit". Units may also be awarded for attendance at training days (normally 2 units) or Training weekends (3 units). A total of 12 units are required to satisfy the requirements for "Call".

• They have 12 diners with senior members of the profession at the Inns of Court.

• This is to encourage conversation and discussion in a formal social environment

• Can’t help thinking there is a degree of social grooming.

Read How to Survive 12 Dinners

QC

• Queen’s Counsel• Senior barristers may

apply to become a QC• This is known as taking silk• The QC’s higher status

attracts higher fees• Tend to work on

exceptional cases and where a client has requested a QC

Appointment of QC• Formally the role of the Lord

Chancellor but– Lead to concern of the

transparency of the appointments process

– Suspicion of old boy network– Concerns over role of state in

conferring QC status

• What happens if the Queen dies and we get a king?

Read

• Read the QC Appointment Notes

• What’s an AG?• What’s a SG?

• How many references must an applicant for QC provide?

Role of a Barrister• A barrister is a lawyer found in many

common law jurisdictions that employ a split profession (as opposed to a fused profession) in relation to legal representation.

• In split professions, the other type of lawyer is the solicitor. Solicitors have more direct contact with the clients, whereas barristers often only become involved in a case once advocacy before a court is needed by the client.

• Barristers are also engaged by solicitors to provide specialist advice on points of law.

• Barristers are rarely instructed by clients directly (although this occurs frequently in tax matters). Instead, the client's solicitors will instruct a barrister on behalf of the client when appropriate.

• Q: What does a split profession mean?

Complaints

• Complaints can be made to their Inns, the Bar Council or to a complaints commissioner to investigate. In extreme cases it is possible for the senate of the Inn to disbar a barrister!

• Barristers can be sued for negligence. They would be disciplined if they failed to maintain the standard of their code of conduct.

• Zahida Manzoor CBE, Legal Services Complaints Commissioner

Legal Services Ombudsman

• A Legal Services Ombudsman was established to handle the complaints by the Bar Council.

• Zahida Manzoor CBE is the Legal Services Ombudsman (LSO) for England and Wales. She is completely independent of the legal profession and a non lawyer.

• Zahida Manzoor CBE is supported by around 25 office staff, including a team of investigating officers who carry out detailed investigation work.

• Her powers derive from the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. In creating the role of Ombudsman, it was Parliament’s intention to protect the interests of the consumers of legal services – clients, and members of the public. She does this by ensuring that the professional bodies conduct fair, thorough and efficient investigations of complaints about their members.Seem

Familiar?

Solicitor V Barrister• The practical difference between the two professions is twofold:• The barrister will usually be the lawyer who represents litigants as their

advocate before the courts of that jurisdiction. A barrister will usually have rights of audience in the higher courts, whereas other legal professionals will have more limited access, or will need to take additional qualifications to do so. In this regard, the profession of barrister corresponds to that part of the role of legal professionals found in civil law jurisdictions relating to appearing in trials or pleading cases before the courts. Barristers used to have a major role in trial preparation, including drafting pleadings and reviewing evidence. In some areas of law, that is still the case. In others, it is relatively common for a barrister to only receive a "brief" from an instructing solicitor to represent a client at trial a day or two before the hearing.[1]

Another reason why barristers are so great

• Barristers often have a more specialised knowledge of case-law and precedent.

• When a solicitor in general practice is confronted with an unusual point of law, they sometimes seek the "opinion of counsel" on the issue.

Questions

• How many dinners must a Barrister eat before they can practice?

• How many Inns of court are there?• What are the names of the 4 Inns of court?• What are the 3 stages to becoming a barrister?• If you don’t do the dinners what are the two

other ways you can fulfil your barrister training?