Traditionally if you wanted to get legal advice from a barrister or you wanted a barrister to represent you at a tribunal or court hearing you had to engage a solicitor first.  However since 2004 the governing body of barristers, the Bar Standards Board, relaxed this requirement and created two new schemes whereby it is now possible for you to get help from a barrister without going to a solicitor first.

Licensed Access

The Bar Standards Board has licensed most professions such as surveyors, accountants, engineers, planners etc so that a member of these professions can instruct a barrister to give legal advice or represent them or their clients at oral hearings other than in court such as planning inquiries, mediations, arbitrations, tribunals etc.  If you are a member of one of those professions (click here for full list) then you are permitted to instruct a barrister in these chambers as your professional body is a Licence-holder. If you cannot find your organisation on this list, there are also certain group licenses. Please click here for the list of group licenses.

You can simply ring our clerks on 020 7430 1221 and they will advise you as to who would be the best barrister to help you. If you are an employed solicitor you can always come to a barrister for advice on behalf of your employer without having to go through a firm of solicitors first and we would encourage you to do this as this helps to keep costs down.

Public Access

Even if you are not a member of a Licence-holder body you can still instruct certain barristers to help you in certain circumstances. The barrister will have to be licensed to act on your behalf. Not all barristers are. Further information about this scheme can be found by clicking on this link to the Bar Council website.

Our clerks are very experienced and can advise you on which route is the right one for you. Contact Jay Fullilove our Senior Clerk on 020 7421 1301, or Kevin Squires on 020 7421 1351 and they will be pleased to help.