A modern profession

I was speaking to a group of Lincoln’s Inn students on this ?very topic recently. I would not have become chairman of the Bar if I did not believe that the future legal services market in England and Wales would include the Bar. 

That is not to say that we do not live in challenging times. Heavy cuts to legal aid, the removal of legal aid altogether in certain areas, court fees – to mention but a few – have all taken their toll. Many of the challenges we face today, and how we respond to them, are about preserving what is valuable in the Bar, and they should not be underestimated. 

However, the Bar has survived over many centuries because of its ability to adapt to changes in society, and its commitment to ?the highest professional standards and to excellence in advocacy.

Over the last few decades we have adapted how we work at the Bar. One example is the increased use of digital technology to keep down our overheads, to allow more flexible working, and to facilitate greater access by solicitors, overseas lawyers, and clients. Others include the growth of international work and ?of direct access by clients. 

Over the same time period the profession ?has become more diverse, although more work remains to be done – the burdens of university debt and the cost of the Bar professional training course threaten much of the good that has been achieved in this area. The profession has also become more accessible through marketing, websites, and seminars, which provide more information to other lawyers ?and clients. 

As the representative body of the profession, the Bar Council works to support barristers in meeting the challenges of the changing world we work in, through initiatives such as the Bar Mentoring Service, the Young Bar Hub and Toolkit, and our Ethics Helpline, which takes some 6,000 phone calls a year from barristers. We also actively help the Bar promote its services through, for example, the Direct Access Portal, which is helping the direct access Bar reach out to a wider client base and overseas trade missions. 

I spend much of my time on the road, meeting barristers from all parts of England and Wales. The cuts to publicly funded work have hit the Bar – and solicitors – hard in areas which are fundamental to our justice system and to access to the courts for the average citizen. These are issues we raise with the government and Westminster regularly. 

An important function of the Bar Council ?is to lobby on behalf of the profession and ?for the justice system more widely. We have campaigned actively against the planned cuts to the advocates’ graduated fee scheme, which were halted, against the two-tier contracts, which have been scrapped, and against the criminal courts charge, also scrapped. We continue to lobby against the enhanced civil court fees and to highlight the devastating impact on access to justice of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. 

While many of the rules and ethics of our profession, such as the cab rank rule, are based on a long tradition, the Bar in 2016 is a modern profession, one of excellence, independence, and flexibility. It will survive because it has continued to perform and because, where necessary and appropriate, it has adapted.

Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC is the chairman of the Bar? @thebarcouncil?