The Bar sees an end to existing working practices

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) will allow barristers to supply legal services within new business structures.  The BSB has approved the creation of Legal Disciplinary Partnerships (LDPs) and Barrister only Partnerships (BoPs).

The BSB, chaired by Baroness Ruth Deech, agreed in principle that barristers could be permitted to join in partnerships with other solicitors and others without having to qualify first as solicitors, under the regulation of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The BSB, which regulates the barristers’ profession, also agreed that barristers should be allowed to practise in more than one capacity at the same time – for instance as a part-time employee or consultant to a mixed practice of legal professonals while being in self-employed practice. Baroness Deech said that she believed the changes would “excite and do a lot for a profession”.

The changes, the result of a lengthy consultation and report put forward by a working group under Charles Hollander, QC, a member of the Board, will now be fine-tuned and the detailed changes to the code of conduct draw up. In the meantime, barristers will be able to seek waivers from the code to allow them to set up shop with other legal professionals or each other. In a series of other reforms that were also approved, the BSB agreed that self-employed barristers could share premises and office facilities with others, provided there is no sharing of work, profits or income of the business.

The BSB’s decisions come after more than two years of careful deliberation by the BSB and its Alternative Business Structures Working Group. Nicholas Green, QC, the Chairman-elect of the Bar, said: “The Bar Council very much welcomes these changes. The BSB’s decisions represent an historic moment for the Bar. The BSB has spent an enormous amount of time considering possible changes in the structure of legal practice in order to address liberalisation of the legal services market. The care with which they have investigated the issues reflects the importance of the BSB’s decisions.

The Bar Council is committed to the provision of the highest quality legal services to the public. We hope that by permitting changes to the ways in which barristers can practise, we shall build on our tradition of excellence while allowing more flexibility for practitioners. We believe the BSB’s decisions will be particularly welcomed by the publicly-funded Bar.”