Bar standards

The cost of regulating barristers rose by nearly 10% in one year, according to the Bar Standards Board (BSB)’s annual report. Costs rose from £3.6m in 2006 to £3.9m in 2007— partly due to the BSB hiring an extra seven staff and improving its IT provision. The number of barristers called to the Bar rose from 794 in 2006 to 906 in 2007. Last year, the BSB conducted research into the public’s view of barristers, set out its reforms for complaints handling and launched a review of the Bar Vocational Course. BSB chair Ruth Evans says: “2007 was our second year of operation and one in which we put in train a programme of work to ensure the core building blocks of professional regulation—training and education, the Code of Conduct, our complaints and disciplinary system—remain fit for purpose for the modern Bar.”