The Bar Council is considering the introduction of internal review measures to monitor and enhance standards of advocacy, it has emerged.

Under discussion is the establishment of a barristers' quality review board, made up of senior practitioners, which would undertake periodic reviews of barristers' work and investigate quality in particular cases.


The board would be separate from the regulatory and disciplinary elements of the council's function; its role would be to advise and encourage, rather than punish barristers.


The council is also considering annual refresher courses for all criminal law advocates. The proposals are expected to be rolled out across the profession after Easter.


Bar Council chairman Stephen Hockman QC said the move had been driven by the Carter review of legal aid procurement, which highlighted the need for the professions to guarantee the quality of those undertaking publicly funded work.


He said: 'The bar trades on quality; if it is not routinely providing the highest-quality advocacy services, the justification for its existence is called into question.'