It would be 'intolerable' for 'the publicly funded bar to wither on the vine, and for the bar to be the preserve only of the rich and the powerful', the incoming bar chairman said this week. Addressing the Bar Council, Stephen Hockman QC claimed the bar did well to get its point across in the recent dispute over legal aid pay but insisted that the procurement of publicly funded legal services is 'at a crossroads'. Mr Hockman, who is head of chambers at 6 Pump Court, also said the Clementi report 'ought to lay to rest forever the suggestion that it would be in the public interest for the different branches of the profession to be fused together'.