At last! I am the harbinger of glad tidings! Barristers can now be instructed direct by
the client in search of the best advice and advocacy available. It’s called Public Access, but as the Great
Bard wrote: “A rose is a rose by any other name.”
It doesn’t matter what you call
it, it means the same. Instead of having
to go to a solicitor first, the client can now come direct to a barrister. It’s good for you, and it’s good for me.
This questionable division of
labour between barristers and solicitors has its roots in the twelfth
century. You remember it well, when King
Henry II was on the throne, and his very best chum was Thomas à Beckett.
In the way of things, being the king’s best
chum meant you had first refusal when the top jobs were being handed out, so
Thomas found himself appointed Lord Chancellor. Not that he knew anything about the law, a tradition embraced by many of
his successors in title.
Not much change there. But Thomas wasn’t content with
sitting back and drawing his index linked pension and the perks of Office, on
the contrary, he decided to set up and preside over the Court of Chancery. Excitement mounted to fever pitch as he
travelled around the land, hearing and settling disputes, it was like an early
version of the X Factor.
Problem was, he was the victim of
his own success, with the Great Unwashed hammering at the doors of the Court
and demanding instant justice. To make
matters worse, as in any legal dispute, there were winners and losers, and the
losers were less than gracious when judgment was entered against them. In a trice they were in his Lordship’s face,
screaming abuse, with time honoured remarks such as: “What is your
problem!?!” and “Do you want some!?!”
So to impose some semblance of
order, Thomas had a rail, or bar, erected between him and these vocal
protagonists, and if they wanted to address him, they had to do so behind the
bar.
The success of the Court brought
forth those who claimed a smattering of legal knowledge, and for a fee, would
plead their clients’ cases. In doing so,
they were “called to the bar” to address the court, and they became known as
barristers.
Work increased to the point where
these barristers were struggling to meet the demands of their many clients, so
touts sprang up to solicit business, and for a commission, would introduce
suitable paying clients to barristers and get them to the front of the
queue.
It suited both barristers and
touts as well as their respective clients, and the convention grew up that
barristers would thereafter use the services of these touts, or solicitors, as
go between to bring them work.
How the worm has turned! Until the recent advent of direct access,
solicitors used this time honoured convention to their best advantage, and
clutching their Higher Courts Advocacy Certificates, began offering themselves
to clients in all aspects of the law, including those areas which had
traditionally been the sole preserve of barristers.
But a new dawn is upon us, and
with a few exceptions, barristers can now offer the client the same ‘cradle to
grave’ service without the need for a solicitor. Hallelujah! The client wins all ways. He gets
the best advocate for the job, and he doesn’t have to pay an ‘introduction’ fee
to a solicitor.
In the best traditions of the Bar
Council, the barristers’ governing body, it’s still a case of ‘one step
forward, and two steps back’, but we’re getting there. So if you’re in need of sound legal advice,
and above all, the services of an experienced advocate, help is but a phone
call away. A new dawn indeed!
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