Public access

“While lawyers are most visible in court, they perform a critical initial function in listening to their client’s story, extracting the salient facts, identifying the legal issues, considering the relevant law and then considering the legal arguments, the evidential requirements and the strength of the evidence. From this information they are able to assess the strength of the case, the risks and the best method of resolution : including abandonment, negotiation, mediation or court.”

Access to Justice for Litigants in Person (or self-represented litigants) : A Report and Series of Recommendations to the Lord Chancellor and to the Lord Chief Justice (Civil Justice Council, November 2011), para 82

 

 

The Public Access scheme, the scope of which was considerably expanded in 2010, makes it easier for consumers to acquire the services of a barrister at a lower cost than using the services of both solicitor and barrister, thus improving access to legal advice and representation.

 

It is no longer necessary in most cases for consumers first to consult a solicitor, employment adviser, planning consultant, surveyor, accountant or other relevant intermediary before being able to access the services of a barrister.

Barristers who agree to perform professional services directly for lay clients will continue to perform the same basic functions as when instructed by a professional client : in particular, giving legal advice, drafting documents and, in appropriate cases, advocacy.  The purpose of allowing lay clients to instruct barristers directly is to remove unnecessary barriers to the provision of barristers’ services and to save costs by cutting out superfluous intermediaries.  It is no part of the purpose of allowing public lay access that barristers should assume professional roles for which they are unprepared by training or unfitted by professional infrastructure.

 

Of those members of chambers eligible to do so (i.e. those who have been in practice for more than 3 years) more than half are now trained, ready and able to provide advice and advocacy services direct to individuals and businesses.

 

Click here for the Bar Standards Board's useful Public Access Guidance for Lay Clients, which provides answers to many of the most common questions encountered on this subject.

Please note that the Public Access Rules do not currently permit a barrister to accept instructions directly from a lay client if a Public Funding (legal aid) certificate is in force.