Solicitors & barristers allowed to form businesses, after extensive consulation
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has given its approval for barristers to supply legal services through legal disciplinary practices (LDPs).
The decision which paves the way for barristers to set up in business with solicitors, and follows extensive work by a BSB working group, including three consultations on the possible impact of the Legal Services Act 2007.
Nicholas Green QC, the chairman-elect of the Bar Council, says: “The BSB’s decision represent an historic moment for the Bar.”
The BSB emphasised, in a statement released last week, that it did not want to lose the “unique attributes” of the Bar, including the cab-rank rule, independence of thought and collegiality through membership of the profession and the Inns of Court.
The board adopted a number of recommendations regarding LDPs:
l barristers should be permitted to become managers of LDPs which include up to 25% non-lawyer managers;
l barristers should be permitted to practise as both managers and as independent practitioners, and detailed guidance will be developed relating to this;
l barristers should be discouraged from becoming shareholders in LDPs due to possible conflict of interest issues, until further guidance is issued;
l barristers should be permitted to form barrister-only partnerships (BoPs) pending the creation of an appropriate regulator for such entities;
l barristers should be permitted in principle to practise through other barrister-only companies and limited liability partnerships; and
l the cab-rank rule will apply to barrister-only partnerships, and the BSB considers that all advocates should be subject to the cab-rank rule and will be raising this with other regulators.
The recommendations will take effect once they have been approved by the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Board.
Baroness Deech, chairman of the BSB, says: “[This] will send a shot of adrenaline through the profession.
“Our decisions on LDPs reflect the need to develop and enhance the supply of legal services so as to best serve clients of the Bar and guarantee access to justice.
"In relation to shareholding in LDPs, we discourage this until we are confident that proper clarification and guidance is in place about conflicts. In relation to dual practice, we hope to provide flexibility in the provision of barristers’ services to the benefit of both practitioners and consumers."
