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The former Lord Chancellor called for restrictions on the rights of audience of solicitor-advocates in order to ‘restore the criminal Bar to health’.
Delivering the Longford Lecture in November 2016, Michael Gove MP said serious criminal defence work should be restricted to barristers, and solicitor-advocates who re-qualify.
While there were ‘some very fine solicitor-advocates’, he suggested that barristers provide a ‘better service’.
He bemoaned the decline of the criminal Bar, ‘squeezed to the margins’ due to economic forces that have driven solicitors’ firms to retain work in-house.
He said: ‘I think we should investigate how we can better regulate those solicitor firms who refer clients to in-house advocates or those with whom they have any sort of other commercial relationship.’
Solicitors reacted to his comments with fury. Will Richmond-Coggan, Chairman of the Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates, accused the Bar of using ‘protectionist tactics’ to ‘crowd out the newcomers with unsubstantiated whispering campaigns and appeals to their powerful friends in government’.
Barristers, he said, ‘want to impose artificial barriers to entry for any who seek to threaten their historic monopoly’.
But Francis Fitzgibbon QC, Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said: ‘I welcome any advocate whose ability matches the cases they are briefed in. The label matters less than the content of the bottle.’
The former Lord Chancellor called for restrictions on the rights of audience of solicitor-advocates in order to ‘restore the criminal Bar to health’.
Delivering the Longford Lecture in November 2016, Michael Gove MP said serious criminal defence work should be restricted to barristers, and solicitor-advocates who re-qualify.
While there were ‘some very fine solicitor-advocates’, he suggested that barristers provide a ‘better service’.
He bemoaned the decline of the criminal Bar, ‘squeezed to the margins’ due to economic forces that have driven solicitors’ firms to retain work in-house.
He said: ‘I think we should investigate how we can better regulate those solicitor firms who refer clients to in-house advocates or those with whom they have any sort of other commercial relationship.’
Solicitors reacted to his comments with fury. Will Richmond-Coggan, Chairman of the Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates, accused the Bar of using ‘protectionist tactics’ to ‘crowd out the newcomers with unsubstantiated whispering campaigns and appeals to their powerful friends in government’.
Barristers, he said, ‘want to impose artificial barriers to entry for any who seek to threaten their historic monopoly’.
But Francis Fitzgibbon QC, Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said: ‘I welcome any advocate whose ability matches the cases they are briefed in. The label matters less than the content of the bottle.’
The Chair of the Bar reports back
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By David Green
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, examines the forensic science underpinning hair drug testing, its evidential scope and limitations, and why it remains the gold standard for evidencing patterns of drug use in family proceedings
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
