Top-tier barristers set 6 Pump Court has become the first major chamber to set up a business regulated as an 'entity' by the Bar Standards Board.

The business, 6 Pump Court Limited, was originally designed to bid for criminal legal aid work under the two-tier contract regime which was abandoned by the government earlier this year.

The BSB was officially approved to regulate business entities last year.

At the time, the board said licensed entities would ‘significantly help broaden the public’s choice as to how they access legal services’.

BSB-authorised bodies are fully owned and managed by authorised individuals, as is the case with 6 Pump Court.

The regulator expects to begin licensing alternative business structures, owned and managed jointly by authorised and non-authorised individuals, next month after formal approval to license ABSs is granted by the lord chancellor. 

Representative body the Bar Council said last year that the ‘vast majority’ of barristers were ‘quite happy’ with the traditional chambers model and had no plans to change.