The BSB Direct Access Guide to Barristers

Scope of this guidance

1. A barrister may accept instructions directly from or on behalf of a member of public, also known as a lay client (the “client”) (rS24 of the Scope of Practice section of the BSB Handbook). This is known as public access. In carrying out public access work a barrister must comply with the BSB Handbook and in particular the Public Access Rules which are at rC119-rC131 of the Code of Conduct section.

2. This document gives guidance on the interpretation of the Handbook and good practice. You should have regard to it in considering whether to accept and in carrying out public access instructions in accordance with the rules set out in the Handbook.

Qualification requirements

3. Before you may accept public access instructions, you must:

(1) Hold a full practising certificate. If you have less than three years’ standing you must have a qualified person readily available to you to provide guidance, if necessary (see paragraph 5 below);

(2) Have undertaken and satisfactorily completed a Bar Standards Board approved training course. Details of such courses can be obtained from the BSB website;

(3) Notify the Bar Council of your intention to undertake such work; and

(4) Have insurance cover as required by the Handbook. BMIF cover satisfies this requirement.

Additional requirements for barristers with less than three years’ standing

4. The prohibition on barristers with less than three years’ standing undertaking public access work has been removed. However there are two additional requirements with which a barrister under three years’ standing must comply.

5. You must have a qualified person available to provide guidance. A person shall be a “qualified person” for these purposes if they are public access accredited and have

  (a) been entitled to practise and have practised as a barrister or have been authorised to practise by another approved regulator for a period (which need not have been as a person authorised by the same approved regulator) of at least six years in the previous eight years;

(b) made such practice their primary occupation for the previous two years; and

(c) been entitled to exercise a right of audience before every Court in relation to all proceedings.

6. You are also required to: (a) keep a log of the public access cases you have dealt with and record any issues or problems that have arisen; and (b) where possible and appropriate, seek feedback from public access clients.

7. A pro forma for logging cases is attached at Annex A. The purpose of this requirement is twofold: (a) Its primary purpose is as a tool to assist you to reflect upon and learn from your practice, (in this connection a barrister will need to consider whether seeking feedback from a client involved in an unsuccessful criminal case would be appropriate) and (b) to assist the Bar Standards Board in assessing whether the removal of the prohibition has introduced any unacceptable risk in to the process. Therefore the BSB will sample a selection of these logs to gauge the impact of the rule change. 

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