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In April I led the Bar Council delegation to the Commonwealth Law Conference in Malta organised by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA). Charles Hale KC and Nancy Williams represented England and Wales in the moot we organised on international child abduction and the Commonwealth was represented by Narghis Bundhun SC (Mauritius) and Georgina Carson (Ontario, Canada). It was well received and highlighted the differing advocacy styles in different jurisdictions.
The Chair of our International Committee, Hugh Mercer KC, launched the discussion on the protection of Bar leaders and lawyers at risk, highlighting the current challenges faced by lawyers in the UK, Türkiye, America, France and Germany. Steven Thiru, incoming CLA President, agreed to investigate the option for states outside of Europe to become parties to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer.
I spoke in a session about legal aid and the rule of law. I emphasised the impact of years of cuts to legal aid on access to justice, the ability of the courts to function, the deleterious effect on the working lives of the lawyers who are committed to public service and the economic benefits of a properly funded legal aid system.
Mark Woods, Chair of the Access to Justice Committee for the Law Council of Australia, Peter Wardle, Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario, and Natasha Ali Errey, Chair of the Mombasa Law Society provided detailed updates from their respective jurisdictions. At a time of great anxiety about what funding will be made to legal aid it was interesting to be reminded that in jurisdictions such as Ontario and Australia, while legal aid is primarily funded by the government, some of the funding is also received from interest earned on escrow accounts held by lawyers.
The Bar Council welcomed the government’s announcement of a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee but called for any increase in police officers to be coupled with adequate resources for the whole of the criminal justice system.
The Bar Council’s submission to the Leveson review highlighted the concern that the pressure on criminal courts has been in part due to previous increases in police numbers without consideration that this may lead to more arrests, and thus more criminal cases.
Any such new initiative should travel with a clear impact analysis showing that there has been provision for adequate resourcing further down the line including investment in the criminal courts, proper funding for legal advice, and investment in prisons and probation. Putting more pressure into the system at one end without resourcing the rest of the system will only result in greater court backlogs and prison overcrowding.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service regularly updates its staff guidance on supporting media access to courts and tribunals. The Lady Chief Justice has created a Transparency and Open Justice Board, chaired by Mr Justice Nicklin. The board is leading on and coordinating the promotion of transparency and open justice across the courts and tribunals of England and Wales. Both of these initiatives are welcome.
For barristers, communicating to or in the press or other media is excluded from the definition of legal services under the BSB Handbook. This also includes social media comments. The Bar Council’s guidance on media comment explains that: ‘Different (and in some respects greater) risks exist with the expansion of media to include social media, such as blogs, social networking sites and Twitter/X.’
It is critical for colleagues to know that barristers are unlikely to be insured against any consequences of expressing a personal opinion to the media. The Bar Mutual Terms of Cover use the same definition of legal services as appears in Part 6 of the Handbook, and that definition is central to the definition of Insured Practice.
Barristers’ Working Lives, our unique survey of the whole Bar, provides feedback from self-employed and employed barristers across all practice areas and specialisms. The survey is designed to explore the lived experience of working as a barrister in England and Wales. Its outcomes will help shape and prioritise all of the Bar Council’s work in supporting and representing the Bar.
The Bar Council has been conducting the survey since 2011, so is able to identify the changing nature of our profession and can then make evidence-based, data-driven suggestions and decisions. This year’s survey has now been launched. Please complete it by Tuesday 27 May and thanks to those who have done so already.
Barbara Mills KC is the 2025 Chair of the Bar. She is a specialist family practitioner at 4PB and former Co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Race Working Group.
In April I led the Bar Council delegation to the Commonwealth Law Conference in Malta organised by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA). Charles Hale KC and Nancy Williams represented England and Wales in the moot we organised on international child abduction and the Commonwealth was represented by Narghis Bundhun SC (Mauritius) and Georgina Carson (Ontario, Canada). It was well received and highlighted the differing advocacy styles in different jurisdictions.
The Chair of our International Committee, Hugh Mercer KC, launched the discussion on the protection of Bar leaders and lawyers at risk, highlighting the current challenges faced by lawyers in the UK, Türkiye, America, France and Germany. Steven Thiru, incoming CLA President, agreed to investigate the option for states outside of Europe to become parties to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer.
I spoke in a session about legal aid and the rule of law. I emphasised the impact of years of cuts to legal aid on access to justice, the ability of the courts to function, the deleterious effect on the working lives of the lawyers who are committed to public service and the economic benefits of a properly funded legal aid system.
Mark Woods, Chair of the Access to Justice Committee for the Law Council of Australia, Peter Wardle, Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario, and Natasha Ali Errey, Chair of the Mombasa Law Society provided detailed updates from their respective jurisdictions. At a time of great anxiety about what funding will be made to legal aid it was interesting to be reminded that in jurisdictions such as Ontario and Australia, while legal aid is primarily funded by the government, some of the funding is also received from interest earned on escrow accounts held by lawyers.
The Bar Council welcomed the government’s announcement of a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee but called for any increase in police officers to be coupled with adequate resources for the whole of the criminal justice system.
The Bar Council’s submission to the Leveson review highlighted the concern that the pressure on criminal courts has been in part due to previous increases in police numbers without consideration that this may lead to more arrests, and thus more criminal cases.
Any such new initiative should travel with a clear impact analysis showing that there has been provision for adequate resourcing further down the line including investment in the criminal courts, proper funding for legal advice, and investment in prisons and probation. Putting more pressure into the system at one end without resourcing the rest of the system will only result in greater court backlogs and prison overcrowding.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service regularly updates its staff guidance on supporting media access to courts and tribunals. The Lady Chief Justice has created a Transparency and Open Justice Board, chaired by Mr Justice Nicklin. The board is leading on and coordinating the promotion of transparency and open justice across the courts and tribunals of England and Wales. Both of these initiatives are welcome.
For barristers, communicating to or in the press or other media is excluded from the definition of legal services under the BSB Handbook. This also includes social media comments. The Bar Council’s guidance on media comment explains that: ‘Different (and in some respects greater) risks exist with the expansion of media to include social media, such as blogs, social networking sites and Twitter/X.’
It is critical for colleagues to know that barristers are unlikely to be insured against any consequences of expressing a personal opinion to the media. The Bar Mutual Terms of Cover use the same definition of legal services as appears in Part 6 of the Handbook, and that definition is central to the definition of Insured Practice.
Barristers’ Working Lives, our unique survey of the whole Bar, provides feedback from self-employed and employed barristers across all practice areas and specialisms. The survey is designed to explore the lived experience of working as a barrister in England and Wales. Its outcomes will help shape and prioritise all of the Bar Council’s work in supporting and representing the Bar.
The Bar Council has been conducting the survey since 2011, so is able to identify the changing nature of our profession and can then make evidence-based, data-driven suggestions and decisions. This year’s survey has now been launched. Please complete it by Tuesday 27 May and thanks to those who have done so already.
Please complete the Barristers’ Working Lives survey this month to help shape and prioritise the Bar Council’s work
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