The Bar council
"provides representation and services for the Bar, and guidance on issues of
professional practice. If you are a barrister, or looking to instruct a
barrister, or seeking guidance on becoming a barrister, there is information here for you."
There is also information on member services and on "BarCo", a commercial enterprise set up by the Bar Council
to indicate selected third party organisations.
As well as providing a link to The Bar Directory (see below) the Bar Council site provides The Public Access Directory and
The List of Barrister Mediators.
The Bar Standards Board is now a separate website.
"As the independent regulatory board of the Bar Council, we are responsible for
regulating barristers called to the Bar in England and Wales. We take decisions independently and in the
public interest and are not prejudiced by the Bar Council's representative function." There is information on
the Code of Conduct for barristers, how to complain about your barrister, how to qualify as a barrister and
how to find a barrister. The data base of CPD courses is to be housed on this site but is
not yet available.
The Legal Hub is the new home of the Bar Directory and Sweet & Maxwell's
Expert Witness Directory. The Bar Directory covers the employed and practising bar and features over 12,500 barristers
and 680 chambers. You can search by name, region or specialisation. There are 2,600 experts listed in the Expert Witness
Directory which can also be searched by name, region or specialisation. It says on the site that all expert witnesses
have been vetted and have agreed to abide by a strict Code of Practice and Terms and Conditions.
OLPAS,
the online pupillage application system,
is a web-based system to allow applications for pupillage to take place online,
backed by the Bar Council. The scheme is the successor to PACH, which was in operation between 1996 and 2000.
Students can apply one or two years ahead and can apply for up to 12 chambers
per season. There is lots of information about the process of obrtainin pupillage on the site.
The Faculty of Advocates
(the Scottish Bar) is a body of independent lawyers who have been admitted to
practise as Advocates before the Courts of Scotland. Faculty records date as
far back as 1532 when the College of Justice was established by an Act of the
Scottish Parliament, though its origins are believed to predate that event.
There are 683 members. Approximately 417 of these are practising advocates,
the remaining 266 includes judges, sheriffs, academics and retired members.
Senior Counsel or "QCs" make up around one fifth of the practising membership.
The Advocates Library is widely regarded as the
finest working law library in the British Isles with a comprehensive range of materials
built up over the last three hundred years.
The site provides
History and composition of the Faculty of Advocates
Up-to-date "stable" listings and contact details for Advocates Clerks and deputies
Information to assist practitioners involved in, or considering, Direct Professional Access.
Bar Pro Bono Unit has
almost 1,000 barristers offering their services and hundreds of
individuals receiving assistance with cases. The site provides information
on the type of case the Unit considers, examples
of cases it has assisted and the process of referring cases to barristers.
There is a members-only area as well as the public area.
The Chancery Bar Association
is an association of over 1,000 barristers in private practice
undertaking the commercial and property work which is associated
with the Chancery Division of the High Court. The majority of members
are in general Chancery Chambers, undertaking a broad spectrum of work,
a major part of which is company and commercial litigation.
The site is light
and bright and informative. It gives the history of Chancery work and describes the sort of
work involved. It lists all Chambers with members of the Chancery Bar Association and
provides news and updates; it also has a good set of legal links.
Commercial Bar Association
(COMBAR) was formed over ten years ago, to bring together barristers who practise
in the field of international and commercial law and who offer that service.
Its members consist of sets of chambers in London where all or most of the barristers
practise in this field, and of individual members, who are members of other chambers
in which only a few are in such practice.
The present membership amounts to some 900 barristers drawn from 48 sets of chambers,
28 of which have joined as chambers. Three of its former Chairmen are Judges of the
Commercial Court. Thus, it truly represents the whole Commercial Bar and constitutes
an impressive body of specialist expertise and advocacy skills in banking, insurance,
international trade, shipping and other key commercial activities
Criminal Bar Association
is by far the largest of all the Specialist Bar Associations, with a current membership of
over 2,800. Formed in 1969, it exists to represent the views of the practising members of
the independent criminal Bar in England and Wales.
The Association is invariably invited to make written or oral submissions
(either in its own right, or jointly or on behalf of the Bar Council) to all major
inquiries or reviews of the criminal justice system. By way of example, it has, in
the last two years, submitted the following detailed responses: to Law Commission paper
on fraud and deception; to the Home Office on the treatment of vulnerable witnesses and
proposed legislation against terrorism; to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee
on double jeopardy; to the House of Lords Select Committee on Corpus Juris; and it made
written and oral submissions to the Macpherson inquiry. At present there are working parties
considering issues such as the compatibility of the Bail Act with the European Convention
of Human Rights, disclosure and pupillage. The Association also holds regular meetings and
negotiations with the Lord Chancellors Department and the Crown Prosecution Service on
matters affecting the criminal Bar, in particular over remuneration and working practices.
The International Sub-Committee maintains strong links with organisations such as the
International Bar Association, the European Criminal Bar Association and the American
Bar Association.
Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) is the specialist bar
association for family barristers. With about 1700 members, it organises conferences, seminars,
meetings and social events throughout the country via its regional network and often in
conjunction with Resolution.
It produces a newsletter, Family Affairs, three times a year to keep its members up to date with
events around the country and the more important changes in the law and procedure.
Annually since 1992 it has published and sold At A Glance, a 90 page ready reckoner for use in
financial cases. At A Glance is widely used by practitioners and the judiciary.
In matters of law and procedural reform the FLBA is frequently consulted by government departments,
including the Lord Chancellor's Department.
All barristers practising in this field are encouraged to join the FLBA.
The International Bar Association (IBA), established in 1947,
is the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies.
The IBA influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession
throughout the world.
It has a membership of 30,000 individual lawyers and more than 195 bar associations and law societies
spanning all continents. It has considerable expertise in providing assistance to the global legal community.
The International Bar Association pro bono website has been created
by the International Bar Association "to bring together the global community of professionals of every level
who are involved in pro bono legal work on a local and on an international scale." It is a very comprehensive site
with resources (for example, papers from conferences), articles written especially for the web site,
information on events, discussion groups and various useful sets of links to other legal bodies worldwide.
Professional Negligence Bar Association
is represented on the General Council of the Bar and is an active consultee in the process of law
reform and procedural changes. It carries the view of its members to the Bar Council, Lord Chancellors
Department, Law Commission, and a variety of governmental and non-governmental organisations.
It publishes the Professional Negligence Law Review, a newsletter produced by Sweet & Maxwell,
and Tables for the Calculation of Damages, an annual edition. The great strength of the Association
is that throughout the 1990s its members were at the cutting edge of major developments in the
law as professional indemnity cases were used to develop wider legal concepts of rights and
obligations in tort and in equity. Since being form in 1990, membership has grown to over 900 including
over 80 silks. The work undertaken by its members includes generic professional indemnity issues
and specialisation concerning legal, clinical, financial and construction professionals, and
extends to matters of ethics, discipline, regulatory control and public law accountability.
Property Bar Association
is the professional body for Barristers in England & Wales who are able
to certify in writing that not less than half of the matters
that they deal with concern property or property-related work.
PropBar had its inaugural meeting in November 2000 and now has nearly 200 members.
It has been accredited by the Bar Council for
the purposes of continuing professional development
and the New Practitioners' Programme. It has also
been accredited by the Law Society and the Royal
Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) for similar purposes.
There is a programme of meetings and lectures and seminars.
Papers, agendas and publications from past events can be found on the site.
Revenue Bar Association
brings together English barristers who practise in the taxation field. The majority of members
are exclusively taxation specialists. Most can handle cases on all taxes. Some have particular
fields of specialisation within the wide context of tax law. The others have mixed practices.
Many do private client type of work and, in their tax practices, concentrate on the tax affecting
trusts, estates and property. Others are criminal lawyers with particular expertise in cases about
alleged tax or VAT frauds and the like. Tax barristers also deal with professional negligence and other
litigation involving tax and judicial review where the Revenue or Customs have exceeded their powers.
