*/
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
You were called at 7am. By 8.15 you were in conference. Between 10 and 4 you were on your feet in court. And somewhere after 6pm, with a cold cup of coffee, you sat down to paginate a 200-page bundle for tomorrow’s hearing.
This is not unusual. It is the norm. Barristers across England and Wales lose hours every week to admin that is essential but not billable. Pagination. E-bundling. Inbox triage. Diary coordination. Expense chasing. The tasks are small individually but collectively they consume entire evenings and weekends.
LEAP Legal Software’s Profitability in Law: Global Report 2026 found that UK legal professionals spend nearly three hours a day on non-billable tasks. That is 88 full working days a year, or roughly 18 weeks, lost to work that generates no fee income.
The Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar Report 2025 tells a similar story from a different angle. Over 27% of barristers surveyed said they were not managing their workloads well. The connection is not complicated. When non-billable admin fills your evenings, your capacity shrinks and your resilience follows.
For barristers, admin is not generic. It is specific and repetitive. Pagination alone, the process of numbering, ordering and indexing documents for a court bundle, can take hours on a complex case. E-bundling through tools like Casedo or Hyperlaw is faster than paper, but someone still has to import, organise, OCR and export every document. That someone is usually counsel.
Then there is the inbox. Solicitors sending briefs at 11pm. Clerks chasing availability. Clients requesting updates. Opposing counsel amending directions. Without a filter, a barrister’s inbox becomes a second job.
Diary management adds another layer. Court dates shift. Conferences need rescheduling. CPD deadlines arrive. None of this is complex work, but it all requires attention, and attention is the one resource a barrister cannot afford to waste.
'Barristers are trained to do one thing exceptionally well: advocate. Every hour they spend on pagination or email triage is an hour taken from case preparation. That is the real cost.' — Grace, Founder, Eden Assistants
A dedicated VA from Eden Assistants works alongside your practice the same way a junior clerk or pupil might, except without the overhead and with admin as their sole focus. Your VA learns your preferred bundle format, your filing conventions, your diary rhythm. They handle pagination in Casedo, manage your inbox to surface only what matters, and coordinate your schedule with clerks and solicitors.
Because Eden Assistants assigns one VA per client, your assistant builds cumulative knowledge of your cases and your chambers. There is no rotation. No re-explaining. No handover friction.
Every VA is UK based, operating under UK data protection law, in the same time zone. For barristers handling sensitive case material, that is not a nice to have. It is a professional safeguard.
Reducing admin for barristers is not about efficiency for its own sake. It is about protecting the hours where your expertise generates the most value: in conference, in court, in preparation. The admin will always exist. The question is whether you should be the one doing it.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Susie, Eden Assistants Operations Manager, and find out how a dedicated VA could work alongside your practice. Book your call here.
Eden Assistants is a Virtual Assistant company which specialises in supporting barristers. They handle administration, bundling, emails and more, so that you can focus on what matters most.
You were called at 7am. By 8.15 you were in conference. Between 10 and 4 you were on your feet in court. And somewhere after 6pm, with a cold cup of coffee, you sat down to paginate a 200-page bundle for tomorrow’s hearing.
This is not unusual. It is the norm. Barristers across England and Wales lose hours every week to admin that is essential but not billable. Pagination. E-bundling. Inbox triage. Diary coordination. Expense chasing. The tasks are small individually but collectively they consume entire evenings and weekends.
LEAP Legal Software’s Profitability in Law: Global Report 2026 found that UK legal professionals spend nearly three hours a day on non-billable tasks. That is 88 full working days a year, or roughly 18 weeks, lost to work that generates no fee income.
The Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar Report 2025 tells a similar story from a different angle. Over 27% of barristers surveyed said they were not managing their workloads well. The connection is not complicated. When non-billable admin fills your evenings, your capacity shrinks and your resilience follows.
For barristers, admin is not generic. It is specific and repetitive. Pagination alone, the process of numbering, ordering and indexing documents for a court bundle, can take hours on a complex case. E-bundling through tools like Casedo or Hyperlaw is faster than paper, but someone still has to import, organise, OCR and export every document. That someone is usually counsel.
Then there is the inbox. Solicitors sending briefs at 11pm. Clerks chasing availability. Clients requesting updates. Opposing counsel amending directions. Without a filter, a barrister’s inbox becomes a second job.
Diary management adds another layer. Court dates shift. Conferences need rescheduling. CPD deadlines arrive. None of this is complex work, but it all requires attention, and attention is the one resource a barrister cannot afford to waste.
'Barristers are trained to do one thing exceptionally well: advocate. Every hour they spend on pagination or email triage is an hour taken from case preparation. That is the real cost.' — Grace, Founder, Eden Assistants
A dedicated VA from Eden Assistants works alongside your practice the same way a junior clerk or pupil might, except without the overhead and with admin as their sole focus. Your VA learns your preferred bundle format, your filing conventions, your diary rhythm. They handle pagination in Casedo, manage your inbox to surface only what matters, and coordinate your schedule with clerks and solicitors.
Because Eden Assistants assigns one VA per client, your assistant builds cumulative knowledge of your cases and your chambers. There is no rotation. No re-explaining. No handover friction.
Every VA is UK based, operating under UK data protection law, in the same time zone. For barristers handling sensitive case material, that is not a nice to have. It is a professional safeguard.
Reducing admin for barristers is not about efficiency for its own sake. It is about protecting the hours where your expertise generates the most value: in conference, in court, in preparation. The admin will always exist. The question is whether you should be the one doing it.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Susie, Eden Assistants Operations Manager, and find out how a dedicated VA could work alongside your practice. Book your call here.
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
The Chair of the Bar reports back
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, discusses what family law professionals need to know about hallucinogens, from the main hallucinogenic drugs encountered in family proceedings, to their effects and the testing options available
Harmony Christian Ministries is the latest charity to benefit from a £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
By David Green
At the start of her term, Chair of the Bar 2026 Kirsty Brimelow KC set out a series of priorities for the year ahead. One of those priorities was children in the justice system
As the world becomes more digital, Barbara Vinagre Mota examines international research into the mental health consequences of judges’ exposure to graphic and immersive evidence, highlighting the importance of support systems
In an era of patient-centred care and growing concern over misconduct in medical settings, why do women still lack the right to choose women consultants for examination and treatment? Charles Davey investigates
Reviewed by Daniel Barnett
James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain until 27 September Rothko in Florence at Palazzo Strozzi until 23 August Reviewed by Stephen Cragg KC
