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Flexible, as the word suggests, means being able to adapt, importantly without breaking! That is entirely possible, but in our experience requires flexibility on both the side of chambers and the individual. Here are our tips for navigating flexible working. These come from our own experience and from speaking to a number of barristers, and we are grateful for their insights.
Heads of chambers, committee chairs, chambers directors, HR leads and senior clerks – whoever steers your chambers’ culture and policies – should ensure that policies exist to support flexible working. These should include a policy specifically for barristers taking a parent, carer or career break. While this is not the only basis for working flexibly, it features heavily. This should cover all forms of parental leave, including surrogacy and foster care, as well as the many other reasons for a career break.
Consider offering:
Check your chambers’ policies in relation to flexible working. It may not be a specific policy, but there should be provisions in relevant policies that cover flexible working arrangements. Not everyone wants to be a trailblazer but if your chambers has neither a policy nor experience of flexible working for barristers, then we hope you will feel confident enough to sit down with your clerks and the members running chambers, and talk to them about initiating a policy.
Ask your senior clerk/HR lead about their experience of how flexible working is applied in chambers.
It sounds obvious, but remember that if you are about to take responsibility for a child or dependant, it is likely to profoundly change your life, and how you use your time. We find that many members underestimate the scale of the change and therefore do not plan sufficiently or far enough ahead (if feasible).
So first, please prepare and where you reasonably can, plan ahead. Think carefully about your most preliminary plans. There are real ranges to the flexible working model, including a fixed reduction in working days/hours, or simply a desire for additional flexibility around current working practices to accommodate a better work-life balance or to fulfil other career/personal aspirations.
Communication is key. Talk to the senior clerk and the clerks you work closest with. Set out your initial thinking, including what you think your return might look like. It may be difficult to predict any planned return arrangements, but the sooner everyone knows what this might look like, the easier it will be to have a plan that facilitates those arrangements.
For any period of leave, discuss potential and real boundaries. Agree what are absolute red lines when you are not available for work or should not be contacted. Be as clear as you can when you are available (days; hours during different days), agree the type of instances/work where the clerks should be in touch regarding potential opportunities, and be realistic about the specific types of work that might fit into any planned working periods.
Be realistic. Consider carefully whether your current practice will accommodate the type of flexible working you might be seeking. Discuss this with the clerking team for their views and experience. Is the type of work you are currently doing conducive to permitting the extra space and time required if looking after a child/children/dependant? If not, then carefully consider what adjustments need to be made, including exploring the possibility of developing work in adjacent areas of practice which perhaps require less court time, or permit more flexibility. This might be necessary temporarily or be a longer-term move. The further in advance this discussion takes place and the planning starts, the easier it will be to manage everyone’s expectations. You will need to carefully consider whether the balance you are seeking is realistic, and what flexibility you might need to offer in order to accommodate the desired outcome. Talking to your clerking team and other members with experience of such situations will help, but each scenario will be different.
Our experience is that some flexibility, very clear boundaries and consistent and honest communication is the best way to navigate any return and find the appropriate balance.
When you return from a period away from practice, you and your clerks should plan for making contact with your previous clients to let them know you are now back and consider where new introductions can be made.
Ideally, your clerks should connect you with leaders, and generally bring you back up to speed with changes and updates to market activity and changes to workstreams.
We’ve seen how helpful it can be for your chambers to connect you with mentors who have previously returned to work from a career break. It is easy to feel alone and isolated as you try to negotiate what work you can or cannot do, so being able to discuss shared experiences with other barristers who have been through this, can be invaluable.
This is a good chance to reflect on the break, your previous practice and what is now realistically achievable having had some time out, considering any adjustments you might need to make and where you might require additional support.
When you return to work you may (as above) have agreed detailed boundaries for your working practice with the clerks, but it is often you, the barrister, who has to be realistic about what your new working pattern can accommodate. This may include a new discipline of having to say either yes to work you might not have previously considered but which fits your need, or no to work that you might previously have been able to accept but changes to your working patterns cannot realistically accommodate. This discipline is difficult for any self-employed person to achieve, but critical if you are to carve out space for other responsibilities or interests. This requires flexibility on all sides, from you as the member to accept new/different working practices and what can reasonably be achieved in your area of practice, and from your clerking team to consider the boundaries and support you in making the most of the time available and opportunities that best fit.
Communication really is key. Flexible working is possible, but as the title of this article suggests, it is something that is agile, moves and requires consistent monitoring and fine tuning.
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James Whiting joined Doughty Street Chambers in 2022 as Chief Executive after 25 years leading charities. He is also Co-Chair of the Legal Practice Management Association.
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Flexible, as the word suggests, means being able to adapt, importantly without breaking! That is entirely possible, but in our experience requires flexibility on both the side of chambers and the individual. Here are our tips for navigating flexible working. These come from our own experience and from speaking to a number of barristers, and we are grateful for their insights.
Heads of chambers, committee chairs, chambers directors, HR leads and senior clerks – whoever steers your chambers’ culture and policies – should ensure that policies exist to support flexible working. These should include a policy specifically for barristers taking a parent, carer or career break. While this is not the only basis for working flexibly, it features heavily. This should cover all forms of parental leave, including surrogacy and foster care, as well as the many other reasons for a career break.
Consider offering:
Check your chambers’ policies in relation to flexible working. It may not be a specific policy, but there should be provisions in relevant policies that cover flexible working arrangements. Not everyone wants to be a trailblazer but if your chambers has neither a policy nor experience of flexible working for barristers, then we hope you will feel confident enough to sit down with your clerks and the members running chambers, and talk to them about initiating a policy.
Ask your senior clerk/HR lead about their experience of how flexible working is applied in chambers.
It sounds obvious, but remember that if you are about to take responsibility for a child or dependant, it is likely to profoundly change your life, and how you use your time. We find that many members underestimate the scale of the change and therefore do not plan sufficiently or far enough ahead (if feasible).
So first, please prepare and where you reasonably can, plan ahead. Think carefully about your most preliminary plans. There are real ranges to the flexible working model, including a fixed reduction in working days/hours, or simply a desire for additional flexibility around current working practices to accommodate a better work-life balance or to fulfil other career/personal aspirations.
Communication is key. Talk to the senior clerk and the clerks you work closest with. Set out your initial thinking, including what you think your return might look like. It may be difficult to predict any planned return arrangements, but the sooner everyone knows what this might look like, the easier it will be to have a plan that facilitates those arrangements.
For any period of leave, discuss potential and real boundaries. Agree what are absolute red lines when you are not available for work or should not be contacted. Be as clear as you can when you are available (days; hours during different days), agree the type of instances/work where the clerks should be in touch regarding potential opportunities, and be realistic about the specific types of work that might fit into any planned working periods.
Be realistic. Consider carefully whether your current practice will accommodate the type of flexible working you might be seeking. Discuss this with the clerking team for their views and experience. Is the type of work you are currently doing conducive to permitting the extra space and time required if looking after a child/children/dependant? If not, then carefully consider what adjustments need to be made, including exploring the possibility of developing work in adjacent areas of practice which perhaps require less court time, or permit more flexibility. This might be necessary temporarily or be a longer-term move. The further in advance this discussion takes place and the planning starts, the easier it will be to manage everyone’s expectations. You will need to carefully consider whether the balance you are seeking is realistic, and what flexibility you might need to offer in order to accommodate the desired outcome. Talking to your clerking team and other members with experience of such situations will help, but each scenario will be different.
Our experience is that some flexibility, very clear boundaries and consistent and honest communication is the best way to navigate any return and find the appropriate balance.
When you return from a period away from practice, you and your clerks should plan for making contact with your previous clients to let them know you are now back and consider where new introductions can be made.
Ideally, your clerks should connect you with leaders, and generally bring you back up to speed with changes and updates to market activity and changes to workstreams.
We’ve seen how helpful it can be for your chambers to connect you with mentors who have previously returned to work from a career break. It is easy to feel alone and isolated as you try to negotiate what work you can or cannot do, so being able to discuss shared experiences with other barristers who have been through this, can be invaluable.
This is a good chance to reflect on the break, your previous practice and what is now realistically achievable having had some time out, considering any adjustments you might need to make and where you might require additional support.
When you return to work you may (as above) have agreed detailed boundaries for your working practice with the clerks, but it is often you, the barrister, who has to be realistic about what your new working pattern can accommodate. This may include a new discipline of having to say either yes to work you might not have previously considered but which fits your need, or no to work that you might previously have been able to accept but changes to your working patterns cannot realistically accommodate. This discipline is difficult for any self-employed person to achieve, but critical if you are to carve out space for other responsibilities or interests. This requires flexibility on all sides, from you as the member to accept new/different working practices and what can reasonably be achieved in your area of practice, and from your clerking team to consider the boundaries and support you in making the most of the time available and opportunities that best fit.
Communication really is key. Flexible working is possible, but as the title of this article suggests, it is something that is agile, moves and requires consistent monitoring and fine tuning.
The Bar Council continues to call for investment for the justice system and represent the interests of our profession both at home and abroad
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AlphaBiolabs has made a £500 donation to Sean’s Place, a men’s mental health charity based in Sefton, as part of its ongoing Giving Back initiative
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Six months of court observation at the Old Bailey: APPEAL’s Dr Nisha Waller and Tehreem Sultan report their findings on prosecution practices under joint enterprise
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It’s been five years since the groundbreaking QC competition in which six Black women barristers, including the 2025 Chair of the Bar, took silk. Yet today, the number of Black KCs remains ‘critically low’. Desirée Artesi talks to Baroness Scotland KC, Allison Munroe KC and Melanie Simpson KC about the critical success factors, barriers and ideas for embedding change
