On this page, we describe:
- Reporting a concern
- Before you report a concern
- How to report a concern
- What to think about before you report a concern to us
- Contacting us about the concern you reported
Reporting a concern
It is our job to regulate barristers, their vocational and work-based training organisations, and the specialised businesses that we authorise to provide legal services to make sure that they maintain high standards of professional behaviour. To help us to do this, we need to know about any concerns you may have.
There are two types of barrister. “Practising” barristers hold valid practising certificates that allow them to provide legal services. “Unregistered” barristers do not hold practising certificates.
Both types of barrister have been “Called to the Bar” which means they have a Law degree and have done some vocational training but unregistered barristers may never have become fully qualified by completing the work-based component of Bar training known as “pupillage”, or their training may not be fully up to date. In other cases, an unregistered barrister may be fully trained and entitled to have a practising certificate but do not currently have one. That is why only practising barristers who have a practising certificate are allowed to call themselves barristers if they are providing legal services
While the Barristers’ Register shows details of all barristers who are authorised to practise currently, it might be that a barrister you are concerned about stopped practising after the date when the conduct you are concerned about occurred. If this has happened, their name will not appear on the Barristers’ Register unless they already have a published disciplinary finding.
If you have concerns about the conduct of a barrister (provided they do not work for you), or about a business or organisation we regulate, or if you have concerns about any other aspect of our regulation, you can let us know by making a report to us. We will then consider whether we need to take any action to address the concern. We may not always feel it is right for us to take action, but any information we receive will help us to ensure that our regulation remains effective.
If you have a concern about a barrister who is, or was representing you and that complaint is about the service they have given you, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman. If you have a concern that relates to the barrister's service and conduct, you can send this to us. We will look into the part of your report that relates to the barrister's conduct and assess whether the barrister may have broken the rules or their professional duties set out in the BSB Handbook. We will send the information about your service complaint to the Legal Ombudsman for them to consider at the same time. The Legal Ombudsman can only look at complaints about the service your barrister has given you. You can find more information about complaining about your barrister by going to the Legal Ombudsman website.
The Legal Ombudsman has worked to update their Scheme Rules, and they have developed a one-page consumer leaflet outlining how and when they can help. This is aimed at ensuring that consumers contact them at the right time – after a service provider has had a chance to address their complaint. It is intended as a simple way for providers to help convey the key information about the Legal Ombudsman they are required to in their client care communication.
The leaflet is available to download from The Legal Ombudsman website in English and Welsh.
You can tell us if you have concerns about a barrister who is not, or has not, worked for you, or about the place they work from (such as their chambers), or a legal services business which we regulate.
If you were given advice or representation by a barrister who was unregistered (which means they do not have a current practising certificate) you can complain directly to us, as the Legal Ombudsman cannot deal with complaints about unregistered barristers. This might be someone that represented you at an employment or benefits tribunal. Unregistered barristers are not allowed to call themselves barristers when giving you legal help and if they do this it is a breach of the BSB Handbook.
We cannot investigate things like whether you got good value, and we cannot order them to pay compensation, but we can look at whether they have broken the rules for unregistered barristers.
We can also deal with concerns about chambers or other organisations that deliver the vocational or work-based portion of training to be a barrister (pupillage). These are known as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs).
You can read more about the role of AETOs in delivering the various components of Bar training in our overview of how to become a barrister.
We do not deal with concerns about universities or colleges which provide Law degrees. If you have a concern about such an organisation, you need to follow the organisation’s internal complaints process. If you are unhappy with the outcome of that process, you may be able to take it up with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. The Office of the Independent Adjudicator is an independent body that reviews complaints made by students about higher education providers in England and Wales.
What to think about before you report a concern to us
If you were the client:
If you are, or have been, the client of a barrister and you’re not happy with the service you have received you should speak to them or to your solicitor first. If you’re not satisfied with their response, or eight weeks have passed and you have not received a response, you can write to the Legal Ombudsman. The Ombudsman has the power to order your barrister to apologise to you, to compensate you, to return fees or documents to you, or to do more work if that is appropriate.
If you think the barrister has also acted in breach of the rules and duties that should apply to barristers, you should report them to us as well, although we can’t order them to pay you compensation or apologise to you.
If you were not the client:
You can also report behaviour by a barrister to us even if you were not their client. For example, you can make a report about barristers who may be:
- breaking the law by committing a serious criminal offence
- failing in their duty to the court – you may think for example that they are not disclosing documents which should be disclosed
- acting dishonestly
- acting without integrity - failing to disclose a personal interest for example
- failing to keep their client’s affairs confidential or
- behaving in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in them or in the profession – for example if they are bullying or harassing someone or using racist, sexist, or otherwise seriously offensive language either in person or on social media. But do remember that, like everyone else, barristers have human rights which include the right to freedom of expression.
But do please also note that there are some things we can’t investigate:
- we don’t regulate judges or other types of lawyers – they have their own regulators
- we can’t get involved where someone is pretending to be a barrister when they are not – but that may be a matter for the police
- we can’t change the progress or outcome of a legal case or stop someone from acting for the other side
- we can’t prevent a barrister from using evidence or an argument you disagree with in court or asking you difficult questions
- and we will generally not intervene when a barrister is simply expressing a political opinion with which you may disagree. That’s because the freedom to express your political opinions is especially protected under human rights law. And that’s particularly the case if the barrister in question is also an elected politician.
If you have any questions about reporting a concern to us please do contact us.
How to report a concern
The easiest way to report something to us is to use our Online Reporting Form. Using the form helps to ensure that we get all the information we need to deal with the issue.
You can also report your concern by using this Word version of the form and by sending it by email to [email protected] or by post to: The Bar Standards Board, 289-293 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7HZ.
We offer reasonable adjustments for those who have a disability. If you require any adjustments, please contact us so we can discuss how best to take your report.
The Online Reporting Form asks for basic information along with more specific questions about the concerns that you wish to tell us about.
When you complete the form, you should set out the facts as clearly as possible. You do not need to use formal or legal language. And you do not need to refer to the BSB Handbook. The important thing here is that we have enough information to understand what your concern is.
It is also important that we have all the relevant information and documents to assess your concern. We will ask you to upload any supporting documents that you think we need to see (such as emails or letters). Unless you think we need it, you do not need to upload all the documents related to any case you were involved in. The key documents that support your concerns will normally be enough. If we think we need more information, we will ask you for it.
We recommend that you have all the information to support your concern ready before you start completing the Online Reporting Form, although you can save the form at any point and come back to it when it suits you.
What to expect when you report a concern to us
When a concern is reported to us, it is assessed by the Contact and Assessment Team to decide what action, if any, is needed. We make a number of initial checks to ensure that the concern relates to someone or something we regulate. We also make sure that we properly understand your concerns. In most cases we will then carry out a risk assessment which looks at whether the concern has, or could have, harmed people or their legal rights, and the public confidence in the profession and ourselves as its regulator. This policy sets out our process for the initial assessment of reports.
If the Contact and Assessment Team decide action is needed, they will pass your concern on to the correct department to deal with it. The Contact and Assessment Team also monitor the types of concerns we receive so we are aware of new problems and so we can deal with issues consistently.
There are some issues that we are not normally able to act on. For example, we do not normally get involved in personal disputes that you have with a barrister unless the barrister’s behaviour might have broken the rules in the BSB Handbook.
After assessing your concern and the information that you provide, the action we take could include:
- Giving the barrister informal advice in order to reduce the risk of the problem happening again.
- Informing our Supervision Team of your concerns. They could then ask that a barrister, or an organisation, do something to improve the situation or to prevent the problem happening again.
- Referring the concern to our Investigation and Enforcement Team where there is potential breach of our Handbook rules for a formal investigation to be carried out to decide if enforcement action should be taken. There are a number of possible outcomes of an investigation. See how we make enforcement decisions to find out more about enforcement decisions.
- Deciding not to take any action. However, we will keep the information you have given us to inform our work in the future.
We will normally disclose the contents of reports we receive about those we regulate, to the barrister or chambers concerned. We may also disclose any supporting evidence. This disclosure will usually include your name and the name of any witness(es) you put forward, but we would normally redact your contact details or your witness(es)’ contact details. If you have a particular reason why we should also redact any special category data, please provide us with details of this. However, if you or your witness(es) wish to remain anonymous, we will try to respect this where there is good reason. Please notify us of any requests for anonymity in writing and provide reasons. You can do this by highlighting any such requests in the form. You can find out more about how we use your information and what we keep, on the information section of our website.
Contacting us about the concern you reported
We will try to assess the concern you reported to us within about eight weeks. If we need further information from you to assess the issue, we will contact you. However, if you would like to contact us about a concern you have already reported, you can contact the Assessment Officer dealing with your report. If you do not know the name of the Assessment Officer, you can call us on 020 7611 1444 or email us on [email protected]
Also of interest:
Unhappy with the outcome of your report?
