The Disciplinary Tribunal of the Council of the Inns of Court has called on the Bar Council to provide more training for pupil supervisors as a matter of urgency after finding a barrister guilty of four charges of professional misconduct.

The tribunal ruled that Adam Davis, a tenant at financial services and fraud law set 2 Dyers Buildings, London, had failed to ensure his pupil had gained sufficient practical experience of legal research and preparing drafts and opinions.


The tribunal found that Mr Davis had also failed to ensure the pupil had an understanding of the bar's code of conduct and etiquette as demanded by the bar's pupillage checklist. He was additionally found to have failed to discuss cases with the pupil or comment on the pupil's written work.


Deciding not to take any action other than to order the defendant to pay £1,500 in costs, the tribunal said its members believed 'that the result of this decision would be that the number of pupil supervisors would drop. They were of the opinion that the Bar Council should give urgent consideration to more training of pupil supervisors so that similar situations could be avoided in future'.


It added: 'There had been a failure of the system and others had been involved.'


Mr Davis, whose costs will be met by his chambers, said: 'The only gripe I have is that had I known that I or anybody else would be held accountable for the exact terms of the bar's checklist, I would not have taken a pupil on. My concern is that other busy criminal law practitioners will have to look carefully and decide whether they want to have pupils.'


Nigel Bastin, head of the Bar Council's education and training department, said: 'Training for all new pupil supervisors has been compulsory for the last six years. The Bar Council is committed to extending training opportunities to established pupil supervisors and has been piloting courses in co-operation with the Inns. This work is on-going.'