Implementation of New Terms of Engagement for barristers

17 October 2012

Update to the profession: the new Contractual Terms and applicable Code of Conduct changes will be introduced on 31 January 2013.  

The practical effect of the changes will be as follows:

1. The present Terms of Work (both in Annex G1 and G2 of the Bar Code of Conduct) are abolished.

2. The Withdrawal of Credit List is abolished.

3. The Bar Code of Conduct is amended so that the Cab Rank Rule applies to instructions offered on the basis of these new Contractual Terms or the barrister's own published terms of engagement - so that, effectively, instead of the Cab Rank Rule applying to the present Terms of Work, it will apply to these new Contractual Terms or the barrister's own published terms.

4. Neither the new Contractual Terms nor the barrister's own published terms will become the "new" default terms. Default terms are no longer required because barristers/chambers are obliged to publish their terms under the Provision of Services Regulations 2009.

5. Barristers will continue to be free to agree any terms, no terms, or to amend the new Contractual Terms.

6. In place of the Withdrawal of Credit List, there will be a List of Defaulting Solicitors and other Authorised Persons. A further change to the Code will be that, instead of a barrister being forbidden to take instructions on credit from solicitors named on the Withdrawal of Credit List, the barrister will have the right, under the Cab Rank Rule, to refuse instructions on credit but, equally, can decide to accept instructions.

7. The solicitors currently on the Withdrawal of Credit List will be transferred to the List of Defaulting Solicitors and other Authorised Persons.

8. For work undertaken on the new Terms (after the implementation date), complaints can be made to the Bar Council for solicitors to be placed on the List of Defaulting Solicitors and other Authorised Persons, if a judgment has been obtained for non-payment of the fees or there is non-payment of a joint tribunal award.

9. When complaints are made after the implementation date of the new Terms, but where the instructions were accepted prior to the implementation date, and thus on the old Terms of Work/Withdrawal of Credit scheme, there will be transitional arrangements to enable those complaints to be made to the Bar Council and for the solicitors to be put on the List of Defaulting Solicitors and other Authorised Persons.

10. Although the new Contractual Terms apply to privately funded cases or where, irrespective of the source of funding, the solicitors are liable to pay barristers, complaints in respect of instructions covered by full publicly funded certificates can continue to be made - again, with the solicitors placed on the List of Defaulting Solicitors and other Authorised Persons.

11. The new contractual terms have been drafted not just for use in relation to instructions from solicitors, but also all persons/bodies authorised by the SRA to carry out legal services under the Legal Services Act 2007.

The new Standard Conditions and changes to the Code of Conduct can be found on the Bar Council's website.

For further information or clarification, please contact Janice Marshall, Implementation Committee Secretariat at the Bar Council - direct line 020 7611 1375.