Practice Areas

Barristers practise in every area of law. Some are increasingly specialised, working in niche areas like intellectual property, sports law, landlord and tenant or construction law. On the other hand many barristers are generalists, practising in one or more broad fields of law. The main practice areas are described below.

Chancery/Commercial Law

Chancery and commercial sets have adapted to the competitive market to become dynamic places to work. Chancery and commercial work is intellectually challenging and requires the ability to quickly absorb detailed information and understand factually complex scenarios. Commercial awareness is essential to ensure legal advice reflects the commercial needs of the client. As a very general rule ‘commercial’ sets specialise in contract law whilst ‘chancery’ sets do more trust work. Company law tends to be more specialised although often commercial and chancery sets also do company law work. As a pupil or junior chancery or commercial barrister you will, in general, be in court a lot less than your peers in other practice areas, and most of your time will be spent undertaking drafting and advisory work.

Common Law

‘Common law’ chambers offer practice in a wide variety of areas of law with particular emphasis on contract and tort. The current trend is for common law sets to have a number of specialist practice groups so that they allow their members to develop a specialist practice whilst offering expertise across a broad number of legal fields. The precise nature of work will vary with each set, but will inevitably be varied and unpredictable. This means it can be difficult to organise your workload as instructions can arrive at the last minute, leading to late night preparation. Pupils and junior member can usually expect to be in court 3 times a week and will tend to be involved in small personal injury claims, property disputes and contractual claims.

Criminal Law

Life at the criminal Bar is unpredictable and challenging. This is where the real courtroom drama happens and each case will have its own colourful characters from all walks of life. Criminal barristers must be strong advocates, able to think quickly on their feet, adapt to changing factual scenarios and deftly summarise cases for judges and jurors alike. They must be able to sympathise, communicate and develop an affinity with others. At the junior end, criminal practitioners can generally expect to be in court at least once a day and will often appear in different courts on the same day. This means constant travelling, waiting and long evenings spent preparing for the next day. Criminal law has a tendency to be a political football and practitioners must keep up-to-date with constant changes in legislation. Current law reforms in this area have also made the future of the criminal bar uncertain with a notable decrease in prosecution work for private practitioners and some people predicting its demise. However, this is unlikely to deter those with a steely constitution and unwavering passion for criminal law, both of which are requisites for success in this area.

Employment Law

Employment practitioners deal with claims arising out of the employment relationship as well as matters concerning trade unions. Employment law is predominantly contract and statute-based and practitioners have to keep up to date with the legislative changes and increasing statutory rights in this area, such as age discrimination. Matters concerning the employment relationship can have a personal effect on those affected and practitioners must be able to deal with these matters sensitively and personably, regardless of their own beliefs. At the junior end of the Bar you can expect to find yourself spending three to four days a week advocating in a court or tribunal, mostly in employment tribunals. The work can be unpredictable and varied, sometimes requiring last minute preparation and long hours. Whilst this has its own excitement, it can make it difficult to plan your workload and your social life.

European Law

European law work is varied as it permeates all aspects of the law. As a result, barristers practising in European law will tend to have a practice in other legal fields (such as public law) with a European focus. There are less travel opportunities than the title suggests and the work will mainly be based in England and Wales, but practitioners may appear in Luxembourg or Brussels. European cases tend to be drawn out and practitioners will tend to have several cases at different stages running at once. You will spend a lot less time in court than your peers and at the junior end much of your work will be spent researching technical issues, European Community legislation and case law.

Family Law

Family law concerns all the issues arising out of family disputes, which may include divorce, financial disputes and child issues, such as abduction and trans-national movement. Disputes can concern family members, co-habitees and local authority intervention in child care arrangements. Practitioners must be able to build a rapport with a wide range of people and understand the cultural backgrounds that may affect such disputes. There is a particular emphasis on resolving disputes and therefore the practitioner will spend a large amount of their time mediating settlements. Junior practitioners can expect to be in court frequently and pupils will be given their own caseload which is both daunting and exciting. You can expect to travel a lot as a junior practitioner as hearings normally take place close to where the parties live.

Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence

Personal injury and clinical negligence work encompasses a wide range of factual scenarios including road traffic accidents, occupier’s liability, injury at work and maltreatment in hospitals (also known as clinical negligence). Damages range from compensation for minor injuries to million pound claims for catastrophic injuries. The combination of legal and medical issues makes work in this field exciting and varied. Whilst a medical qualification is not necessary, an interest in medical issues is a must. Practitioners spend a large proportion of their time considering expert reports and discussing the issues with experts in conference. Clients, especially those with a clinical negligence case, will have been let down by a professional in the past, so the ability to instil confidence and deal with people from all walks of life is a must. Life at the junior end of the Bar is busy and you can expect to be in court each day for matters such as small claims hearings, infant approvals and case management hearings. Senior practitioners will spend less time in court but the cases will be longer and require thorough preparation.

Public Law

Public law concerns challenges to the decisions of public bodies in a wide variety of fields from local government planning or housing decisions to central government decisions on asylum or the award of contracts to private bodies. Each area carries its own procedures and case law, making practice in this area varied and interesting, with the opportunity to specialise. Many public decisions, such as those in education or in housing law, have very firm statutory frameworks. In other cases, judicial review will be sought in reliance on case law. The amount of time spent in court can depend on the field you are practising in as well as the chambers. Juniors may appear frequently in court in their own right in small cases or spend more time researching and drafting for a senior practitioner in a complex case. The nature of the work is, in general, less unpredictable than other areas.