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The overall settlement for the justice system is beneficial, there is some recognition by government that justice is a key public service and the average real terms increase in total funding in the Spending Review was 3.1%. This will help increase court capacity, tackle the court backlogs and implement recommendations from the Independent Review of Criminal Courts.
The Bar Council has been calling for more resources for some time, so this is a move in the right direction. We still need further support for the criminal, civil and family Bar, legal aid and early legal advice.
Last month we had our first event in Parliament with the Law Society since the general election. The theme was justice as a key public service. This was an opportunity for the Bar and solicitors to meet with new and returning MPs and Peers. The Attorney General and the Shadow Attorney General both spoke, and the event was sponsored by the Chair of the Justice Select Committee.
There was recognition of the important role that legal professionals have in our democracy and in upholding rule of law. Other issues touched upon included public spending and economic growth, the contribution of legal services to the economy and access to justice.
I have had several meetings with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), including with its Chief Executive, to discuss the cyber incident and its impact on the Bar. I pressed for and received a contingency plan for paying barristers while waiting for the systems to be restored. I wrote to HMRC’s Chief Executive to bring the LAA cyber-attack to their attention and to highlight the impact the incident is having on barristers whose primary income is from legal aid work and the particular concerns regarding cash-flow difficulties with VAT and tax payment deadlines.
We have asked for information about the LAA cyber incident to be shared with HMRC call handlers and invited HMRC to consider additional help and flexibility for barristers, such as an additional period for payments. The response I have had from HMRC highlights its ‘Time to Pay’ arrangements and confirms that HMRC debt management staff have been advised of the incident.
In June, a High Court judgment censured lawyers for citing non-existent case law. Dame Victoria Sharp called upon the Bar Council and the Law Society to ‘address the misuse of artificial intelligence’. We have already issued guidance on the use of generative AI, which is quoted in the judgment, and a new joint working group with the Bar Standards Board (BSB) is being established to identify how best we can further support the Bar in ensuring that AI is used carefully and appropriately.
The BSB has recently launched a consultation on first-tier complaints handling and the consultation focuses on the ways, means and timing of the submission by the Bar of complaints information to the BSB. Our Chambers Management Panel and Regulation Panel are both working on a response and we want to encourage colleagues to submit their own response by the deadline on Wednesday 6 August.
We’ve submitted a response to the Legal Services Board consultation on upholding professional ethics. The consultation identified several types of poor ethical conduct, including strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and problems of independence.
We have argued in our submission that the ethical issues identified are not commonplace at the Bar, or necessarily appropriate for additional regulatory control.
Our Law Reform Committee and Ethics Committee have taken the lead in challenging the premise that NDAs were being misused by our profession. Since July 2023 our general approach has been to suggest that any misuse is best addressed by legislation.
In June 2025 the Ministry of Justice published new guidance on changes that will be happening to the law governing NDAs and we are pleased there has been an attempt to tackle the issue but not via further regulation of the profession.
Barbara Mills KC is the 2025 Chair of the Bar. She is a specialist family practitioner at 4PB and former Co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Race Working Group.
The overall settlement for the justice system is beneficial, there is some recognition by government that justice is a key public service and the average real terms increase in total funding in the Spending Review was 3.1%. This will help increase court capacity, tackle the court backlogs and implement recommendations from the Independent Review of Criminal Courts.
The Bar Council has been calling for more resources for some time, so this is a move in the right direction. We still need further support for the criminal, civil and family Bar, legal aid and early legal advice.
Last month we had our first event in Parliament with the Law Society since the general election. The theme was justice as a key public service. This was an opportunity for the Bar and solicitors to meet with new and returning MPs and Peers. The Attorney General and the Shadow Attorney General both spoke, and the event was sponsored by the Chair of the Justice Select Committee.
There was recognition of the important role that legal professionals have in our democracy and in upholding rule of law. Other issues touched upon included public spending and economic growth, the contribution of legal services to the economy and access to justice.
I have had several meetings with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), including with its Chief Executive, to discuss the cyber incident and its impact on the Bar. I pressed for and received a contingency plan for paying barristers while waiting for the systems to be restored. I wrote to HMRC’s Chief Executive to bring the LAA cyber-attack to their attention and to highlight the impact the incident is having on barristers whose primary income is from legal aid work and the particular concerns regarding cash-flow difficulties with VAT and tax payment deadlines.
We have asked for information about the LAA cyber incident to be shared with HMRC call handlers and invited HMRC to consider additional help and flexibility for barristers, such as an additional period for payments. The response I have had from HMRC highlights its ‘Time to Pay’ arrangements and confirms that HMRC debt management staff have been advised of the incident.
In June, a High Court judgment censured lawyers for citing non-existent case law. Dame Victoria Sharp called upon the Bar Council and the Law Society to ‘address the misuse of artificial intelligence’. We have already issued guidance on the use of generative AI, which is quoted in the judgment, and a new joint working group with the Bar Standards Board (BSB) is being established to identify how best we can further support the Bar in ensuring that AI is used carefully and appropriately.
The BSB has recently launched a consultation on first-tier complaints handling and the consultation focuses on the ways, means and timing of the submission by the Bar of complaints information to the BSB. Our Chambers Management Panel and Regulation Panel are both working on a response and we want to encourage colleagues to submit their own response by the deadline on Wednesday 6 August.
We’ve submitted a response to the Legal Services Board consultation on upholding professional ethics. The consultation identified several types of poor ethical conduct, including strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and problems of independence.
We have argued in our submission that the ethical issues identified are not commonplace at the Bar, or necessarily appropriate for additional regulatory control.
Our Law Reform Committee and Ethics Committee have taken the lead in challenging the premise that NDAs were being misused by our profession. Since July 2023 our general approach has been to suggest that any misuse is best addressed by legislation.
In June 2025 the Ministry of Justice published new guidance on changes that will be happening to the law governing NDAs and we are pleased there has been an attempt to tackle the issue but not via further regulation of the profession.
Chair of the Bar sets out a busy calendar for the rest of the year
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