*/
Lawyers need to ‘re-double’ their efforts to encourage professional standards and conduct in the digital age that values economic success, the Chairman of the Bar told the International Bar Association.
Speaking at its annual conference in Washington in September, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC said: ‘An increasing focus in society on economic success and on taking a commercial approach, I believe, threatens professionalism.’ She insisted: ‘The Bar is a profession. It is not simply a job.’
But she said the 21st century brings many challenges to that sense of professionalism, including political pressures, societal changes, regulators, financial pressures, press coverage, perception and technology.
Doerries said: ‘The more we act, or are encouraged by society to act, as purely businesses or are treated simply as part of a market of legal services…the more we attenuate the idea of being a professional lawyer, and ultimately undermine the special and fundamental role.’
Lawyers she said, need to ‘re-double’ their efforts to encourage professional standards and conduct in an age where technology is changing working practices.
Public legal education, she added, was the way to teach society the real value of professional lawyers.
Positively, she said young barristers understand this; they come to the Bar to be professionals and for the challenge of demonstrating what it means to be a professional worthy of the name.
Lawyers need to ‘re-double’ their efforts to encourage professional standards and conduct in the digital age that values economic success, the Chairman of the Bar told the International Bar Association.
Speaking at its annual conference in Washington in September, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC said: ‘An increasing focus in society on economic success and on taking a commercial approach, I believe, threatens professionalism.’ She insisted: ‘The Bar is a profession. It is not simply a job.’
But she said the 21st century brings many challenges to that sense of professionalism, including political pressures, societal changes, regulators, financial pressures, press coverage, perception and technology.
Doerries said: ‘The more we act, or are encouraged by society to act, as purely businesses or are treated simply as part of a market of legal services…the more we attenuate the idea of being a professional lawyer, and ultimately undermine the special and fundamental role.’
Lawyers she said, need to ‘re-double’ their efforts to encourage professional standards and conduct in an age where technology is changing working practices.
Public legal education, she added, was the way to teach society the real value of professional lawyers.
Positively, she said young barristers understand this; they come to the Bar to be professionals and for the challenge of demonstrating what it means to be a professional worthy of the name.
Chair of the Bar reflects on 2025
Q&A with criminal barrister Nick Murphy, who moved to New Park Court Chambers on the North Eastern Circuit in search of a better work-life balance
Revolt Cycling in Holborn, London’s first sustainable fitness studio, invites barristers to join the revolution – turning pedal power into clean energy
Rachel Davenport, Co-founder and Director at AlphaBiolabs, reflects on how the company’s Giving Back ethos continues to make a difference to communities across the UK
By Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs
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
Professor Dominic Regan and Seán Jones KC present their best buys for this holiday season
Little has changed since Burns v Burns . Cohabiting couples deserve better than to be left on the blasted heath with the existing witch’s brew for another four decades, argues Christopher Stirling
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
Despite its prevalence, autism spectrum disorder remains poorly understood in the criminal justice system. Does Alex Henry’s joint enterprise conviction expose the need to audit prisons? asks Dr Felicity Gerry KC
With automation now deeply embedded in the Department for Work Pensions, Alexander McColl and Alexa Thompson review what we know, what we don’t and avenues for legal challenge
