Barristers win right to conduct litigation

Barristers will be able to conduct litigation, once the new Bar Standard Board (BSB) handbook comes into force in January 2014. The handbook was approved by the LSB earlier this week.

The BSB said the move meant that clients of public access barristers would no longer have to carry out litigation work themselves or instruct solicitors. Barristers wanting to carry out litigation work would apply for an extension to their practising certificates.

Further changes to the handbook mean that self-employed barristers would no longer be prevented from sharing premises or forming associations.

"Superfluous rules have been stripped away and others modernised," Baroness Deech (pictured), chair of the BSB, said.

"The handbook's approach is less prescriptive, with more focus and guidance on what the outcome of a rule should be, rather than attempting to define how a barrister should act in every situation.

"As well as offering greater clarity there are also new measures that will empower barristers to change their business models in line with consumer need."

The new handbook will put barristers under a duty to self-report serious misconduct and report others, and the 'core duties' of a barrister will be applied to all barristers, including those who are unregistered. Unregistered barristers can provide unreserved legal services, such as will-writing and employment advice, without a practicing certificate.

"Through developing a risk-based approach to supervision we will be better placed to work with the profession to prevent non-compliance from materialising in the first place or to avoid a recurrence of less serious non-compliance," Baroness Deech said.

"This will help us to ensure that enforcement action is reserved for the most serious cases of non-compliance which could have considerable consequences for the client and the public interest."

The BSB is expected to apply to regulate entities at the start of next year. The LSB warned in May that the BSB must improve if it wants to regulate entities.

The umbrella regulator said the BSB had painted an "overly optimistic picture about the progress it has made in moving towards outcomes-focused regulation", especially given the lack of evidence it had produced on regulatory risks and consumer needs.