Dress sense

The lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, has endorsed guidance issued by the Bar Council concerning court dress for barristers. In all proceedings before the House of Lords, the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal, counsel will continue to wear court dress, as they will where a defendant’s liberty is at stake. In county courts, business suits will be worn except during trials. Business suits will always be worn in the Commercial Court, the Admiralty Court and the Technology Court, while in the family courts business suits will be worn except during contested petitions for divorce or annulment of marriages.