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Public Access Bar Association
Public access now accounts for 12% of the Bar’s income; in 2009 the figure was just 2%; Five QCs, one a recent convert to ‘the Dark Side’ of judicial office gave personal views of public access.
There was a distinct family bias to this PABA session, which was none the worse for that. In fact as a civil practitioner, whose public access work is far more symbiotic with the solicitors’ profession, with clients often looking for initial advice and referral to a suitable solicitor, it was interesting to learn that in the family field, the Bar is far more often either in direct competition with solicitors or filling the void left by legal aid.
In the field of ancillary relief, the Bar can offer a far more cost-effective solution in big money cases; a telling example was given by Susan Jacklin QC who revealed that a direct access client had told her he had been given more substantive advice in their first four-hour conference than he had previously received after spending £¾million on three ‘blue chip’ solicitors’ firms. Thorny issues, such as writing correspondence and avoiding stepping over the sometimes-thin boundary that in practice can exist between permitted public access work and conducting litigation, was also discussed (although 6,000 barristers have completed training and registered for public access work only 220 have gone on to obtain a the qualification to conduct litigation). As a family judge, Robin Tolson QC echoed Sir Henry Brooke’s comments earlier in the day about the impossibility of maintaining equality of arms when one unrepresented party appears against another who is represented and the relief he feels when a previously unrepresented party has, through public access, managed to secure representation.
Rawdon Crozier is a barrister at KBG Chambers, Plymouth, specialising in property law. He is a member of the Counsel editorial board, writes for several legal journals and also writes poetry. In 2015 he went straight from Arnold v Britton [2015] UKSC 36 in the Supreme Court to starting chemotherapy and ‘got the right result in the latter’.
Public access now accounts for 12% of the Bar’s income; in 2009 the figure was just 2%; Five QCs, one a recent convert to ‘the Dark Side’ of judicial office gave personal views of public access.
There was a distinct family bias to this PABA session, which was none the worse for that. In fact as a civil practitioner, whose public access work is far more symbiotic with the solicitors’ profession, with clients often looking for initial advice and referral to a suitable solicitor, it was interesting to learn that in the family field, the Bar is far more often either in direct competition with solicitors or filling the void left by legal aid.
In the field of ancillary relief, the Bar can offer a far more cost-effective solution in big money cases; a telling example was given by Susan Jacklin QC who revealed that a direct access client had told her he had been given more substantive advice in their first four-hour conference than he had previously received after spending £¾million on three ‘blue chip’ solicitors’ firms. Thorny issues, such as writing correspondence and avoiding stepping over the sometimes-thin boundary that in practice can exist between permitted public access work and conducting litigation, was also discussed (although 6,000 barristers have completed training and registered for public access work only 220 have gone on to obtain a the qualification to conduct litigation). As a family judge, Robin Tolson QC echoed Sir Henry Brooke’s comments earlier in the day about the impossibility of maintaining equality of arms when one unrepresented party appears against another who is represented and the relief he feels when a previously unrepresented party has, through public access, managed to secure representation.
Public Access Bar Association
Update from the Chair of the Bar
By Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group
Modernising communication and collaboration at a leading Chancery set. A Zexi case study
How to build profile without compromising professional duties. By Naumaan Farooq, Co-Founder of Inked PR
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, examines the role of cut-off levels, and the wider range of factors that must be considered when interpreting results for family court proceedings
Endometriosis Awareness North, a charity raising awareness of endometriosis and supporting those affected across the North of England, has received a £500 boost from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
The case against judge-only justice – and why efficiency is not enough. By Professor Leslie Thomas KC
Jemima Coleman and Zoë Leventhal KC on the evolving global movement seeking to reframe how we view nature: to recognise that nature possesses inherent rights and to enshrine these rights in law
Heritage as an anchor and a compass, finding our common humanity and embracing the power of the outsider – Melina Antoniadis’s lessons learnt
Seeing the full picture – Baljit Ubhey OBE outlines the CPS action plan to tackle violence against women and girls, offering insights directly relevant to courtroom practice
Lauren Fullerton examines the how, what and why of setting up a second chambers base
