Profession receives modernisation makeover
Self-employed barristers will be able to conduct litigation and form associations with non-barristers next year.
The Legal Services Board has approved the lifting of certain practising restrictions from the Bar Standards Board (BSB) new code of conduct. The revised code will form part II of the new BSB Handbook.
From January 2014, barristers will be able to apply for an extension to their practicing certificate to conduct litigation. This means clients of public access barristers will no longer have to act as self-represented litigants and conduct the administrative tasks themselves.
They will be able to share premises and form associations with non-barristers – both of which are banned under the current code of conduct. Barristers will also be required to self-report and report others for “serious misconduct”.
The BSB is adopting a new strategy to supervision, under which disciplinary action will only be taken for the more serious breaches of conduct.
Baroness Deech, chair of the BSB, said: “Superfluous rules have been stripped away and others modernised.
“Through developing a risk-based approach to supervision we will be better placed to work with the profession to prevent non-compliance from materialising in the first place or to avoid a recurrence of less serious non-compliance.”
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