Employed bar boost

A 'significant number' of employed barristers are keen to use newly granted rights of audience, the first survey of the in-house Bar has discovered.The survey of 900 employed barristers - there are just less than 3,000 in total - also found that 7% of them work in solicitors' firms.One-third of respondents now claim full rights of audience and a similar number have completed an Inns of Court advocacy programme.More than one-third identified advocacy training as a key issue for the Bar Council's employed barristers committee to pursue, second only to the need for continuous education.The survey found that 30% of the employed Bar plan to apply for a judicial post in the next three years, and 32% of existing applicants have been successful.It also revealed that the employed Bar is significantly more socially and culturally diverse than the private practice Bar: some 13% are from an ethnic minority background and 40% are women.Susan Ward, chairman of the employed barristers committee, said: 'A significant number of barristers in employment enjoy first-class, rewarding careers in leading organisations at the cutting edge of justice, business and society.'Of employed barristers, 26% work in commerce, industry and finance.

Aside from law firms, the rest work in the Government Legal Service (GLS) (20%), the Crown Prosecution Service (20%), justices' clerks (14%), non-GLS government positions (10%), and the not-for-profit sector (3%).Neil Rose