Bar dilutes access plans

CONSULTATION: barrister proposals back 'cautious' relaxation of rule in family, criminal work

The Bar Council has watered down its plans to allow direct access to barristers, after consultation on the issue threw up fears that the original proposals would confuse both the public and lawyers about roles within the profession.

Launching revised proposals last week, the bar said it would now like to see a 'cautious' relaxation of the rule in restricted areas of family and criminal work.

This would be 'notably for advice and in a very few court matters where at present it is clear that the additional role of the solicitor is not necessary in the interests of the client'.

It specifically ruled out direct access in immigration cases.

It originally backed direct access across the board in contested cases where the facts were straightforward, where the issue was one of law or interpretation of a document, and for some simple guilty pleas and appeals (see [2002] Gazette, 7 February, 1).

It suggested that this would eradicate problems highlighted in last year's Office of Fair Trading report on competition in the professions.

The changes are expected to come into effect next year, subject to the Lord Chancellor's approval.

Bar Council chairman David Bean insisted that they were aimed at enabling more people to benefit from the bar at a lower cost while still protecting the public.

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'The Law Society welcomes the fact that the bar is proceeding cautiously with its plans to give the consumer direct access to the services of a barrister.

We continue to welcome choice for the consumer provided that adequate public safeguards, to do with training and regulation, are put in place.'

Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said he could not envisage circumstances in which advice from a solicitor would not be in the best interests of the client, but welcomed the bar's recognition of the 'essentially different and specialist roles' solicitors and barristers play.

'Retaining the continuity of advice by the same person, from the police station to the court, is highly advantageous,' he added.

Rosemary Carter, chairwoman of the Law Society's family law committee, said the bar should realise the importance of barristers keeping a distance so that they could present the facts without getting bogged down in the emotional aspects of a case, and provide a fresh pair of eyes in complex matters.

Paula Rohan