Why I do it:
Part of my reason for being involved in the Ethics Committee is that I think it’s an important and worthwhile job. I can see how much help we give to barristers in difficult situations, which is obviously satisfying. And over the years I have seen how much impact we can and do have on developing the Bar’s professional ethics, and how we are regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and Legal Services Board (LSB). In recent years this has been particularly highlighted by such matters as the Post Office scandal, and the public discussions about how lawyers can and should be involved in such matters as strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPPs) and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
But on a more selfish note – it’s just consistently interesting. When I came to the Bar I never thought that one of the most fascinating aspects of my job would be advising other barristers on how they should act professionally. But after more than twenty years on the committee (first as a member, then as a Vice-Chair and now as one of the two Co-Chairs), I have repeatedly found it to be one of the most rewarding things I do. Often I come away thinking ‘there but for the grace of God go I…’. Sometimes (fortunately far less often) I come away wondering how on earth the barrister got themselves into the mess. But I am never bored by it.
What we do:
Let’s be honest for a moment – almost no barristers have actually read and remember the BSB’s Handbook, let alone the Code of Conduct. At least, not from cover to cover. I know I hadn’t in 2002, even though the Code was a lot shorter then. So if you are only faintly familiar with it, and the precise terms of the ‘cab rank rule’ are a distant memory from Bar School, you are in good (or at least numerous) company. Which is where we, the Ethics Committee, come in.
Our formal job is to “provide guidance on issues of professional conduct and ethics” – whether that is to the Bar Council itself, or the profession as a whole. But that nutshell does not really describe what we do in the real world.
The hotline, and more….
The way most barristers know about us, is through just one of our aspects – the Ethical Enquiries Service (the ethics helpline). Regularly topping barrister surveys of which Bar Council services they appreciate, we field over 5,000 calls and emails a year seeking advice on professional conduct issues. Many are just double checking what the barrister thinks is the case. Some are from barristers at court trying to field a difficult judge or client, and not having the time or opportunity to do fuller research. And occasionally there are really difficult questions where the answer is far from obvious. Forget questions of double renvoi – whether and when to break legal privilege and inform the police about threats to former spouses is where it gets really tricky.
But that is not all that we do.
We help maintain the Bar Council’s Ethics Hub, and the dozens of guidance notes on that website covering multiple issues – some common, some quite recherche. Every year we check and update our existing guidance, and draft new ones for developing issues, so you can be certain the guidance is up to date.
We help the Bar Council respond to consultations, policy papers and the like whenever the issues touch on professional conduct. This can be quite dry and technical, but it can have a huge impact on where the regulation of the Bar is going.
And law, but far from least, we provide professional ethics education and training, through seminars and other resources. In recent years we have developed our online seminars, which have proved very popular and past examples of which are available online - Handling ethical dilemmas at the family and civil Bar (February 2025) and Handling ethical dilemmas at the Young Bar (April 2025).
We are also maintaining our in person seminars, including at the recent 2025 Bar Conference on 7 June where we ran a workshop covering some common and topical professional conduct issues.
Fenner Moeran KC was called in 1996 and took silk in 2014. He is one of the two co-chairs of the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee since 2023, having joined the committee over 20 years ago. Within the Ethics Committee, he has specialisations in civil issues relating to disclosure, confidentiality and conflicts of duty. At the Bar he has a wide-ranging commercial Chancery practice, with specialisms in trusts, civil fraud, pensions and financial services.