Bar Council guidance for on-line booking

The free on-line booking service for barristers - www.bookcounsel.com - appears to have ruffled a few feathers at the Bar Council, provoking it into producing guidance on Internet instruction schemes.

Although the Bar Council had concerns about BookCounsel.com, particularly about the nature of barristers' legal liability when using it, it has now decided that the scheme does not breach conduct codes.

Solicitors can book barristers and solicitor agents through the scheme by completing a straightforward on-line booking form, which is then forwarded to local chambers (see [2000] Gazette, 20 April, 22).

To avoid breaching conduct rules, fees must be agreed with, and instructions taken from, solicitors or other authorised organisations.

Barristers are forbidden from paying a fee for these cases and must remain able to refuse cases.

Most importantly, such schemes are required to carry insurance and barristers are required to accept cases only within their professional indemnity insurance limits.

BookCounsel.com has received 60,000 enquiries since its launch in May.

Every chambers in England and Wales and over 9,500 law firms are logged onto its database.Mark Stobbs, head of professional standards and legal services at the Bar Council, said the uncertainty over what BookCounsel.com was made it 'crucial' to have a clear code to ensure compliance.

Stephen Ward, a director of BookCounsel.com, said that although the service was proving very popular at the junior end of the market, there were plans to extend the service to more senior barristers.

He said the Bar Council's guidance was 'extremely helpful'.

Sue Allen