The Bar Standards Board has opened a second consultation on proposals for improving its enforcement process - including publishing outcomes in all cases.

The proposed new regulations, to be introduced from February 2027, will apply to all cases from that date, including those already underway. The second consultation follows the BSB’s first on the principles for the new regulations and also ‘takes forward the adoption of certain recommendations of the Harman Review’.

In a foreword to the consultation, the BSB said: ‘These revised regulations are informed by the need to secure improved fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in our enforcement system.

‘Importantly, the changes will also help us (and [the Bar Tribunal and Adjudication Services]) to expedite cases, leading to swifter outcomes, including those involving allegations of bullying and harassment. Crucially, they will also provide an assurance of anonymity and support to witnesses involved in cases of a sexual nature.’

The draft regulations, which will replace parts of the BSB handbook, include publication of disciplinary tribunal hearing outcomes in all cases, including where the charges are dismissed, and the extension of the power to refer and impose immediate or interim orders on the basis of interim conditions rather than interim suspension or disqualification only.

Referring to introducing the new regulations with a fixed launch date, the consultation said this would ‘ensure [the changes] apply consistently to all cases being considered by the BSB or already in the system’ which ‘will promote clarity’.

Promoting transparency and keeping the public informed about disciplinary cases are some of the benefits to publishing outcomes in all cases, the consultation said. While extending the right to appeal the decision of a health panel to the regulator, something which currently only the accused barrister has the right to do, will ‘ensure that the appeal process applies equally to both parties’.

Read more

Steve Haines, interim director general of the BSB, said the consultation and the aim to improve its enforcement process was a ‘milestone in our project to reform the handling of enforcement cases’. He added: ‘The purpose of this consultation is to streamline the regulations to ensure they are better organised, simplified, use plain English and reflect best regulatory practice.

‘We are seeking views on whether the revised regulations properly give effect to our previously agreed policy positions and whether they support our overall objectives of improving the fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the end-to-end enforcement process. We hope to hear from the profession and the public during the consultation.’

The consultation is open until 17 July.