Is the Bar still a stand-out example of adherence to high ethical standards?

This discussion focuses on the measures undertaken by the Bar and other bodies to ensure that barristers follow high ethical standards. It also highlights the importance of ethics in the profession of barristers and the need for self-reporting in case of ethical issues. The Bar Council and other bodies play a significant role in promoting high ethical standards and providing up-to-date guidance to practitioners.

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Law Ethics
Is the Bar still a stand-out example of adherence to high ethical
standards?
04-Apr-18
(Student Details: )

Law Ethics
Introduction
Under the law, bar is deemed as the legal profession as an institute; and a barrister,
known as bar at law, is deemed as a kind of lawyer, in the common law jurisdiction. It is a
common perception that the barristers indulge in grey areas of the law1, in order to bring the
most favourable results for their clients, particularly in the present world of increased
competition and decreased fees. All this makes it important for the Bar to be an example of high
ethical standards. Even with the commercial pressure being placed on the barristers at the present
time, the requirement of maintaining high ethical standards continues to be at the top. This
comes at such a time where the profession of barristers is under high scrutiny from regulators,
public and the media, where the significance of maintaining high standards is emphasized,
particularly because of the perceptions amongst the people of the barristers using the grey areas2.
This has resulted in the professional ethics becoming a hot topic. This discussion is focused on
showing that the Bar continues to be a standout example when it comes to following high ethical
standards.
Discussion
In the nation, the Parliament of UK has passed the Legal Services Act, 20073 makes an
attempt to liberalize and regulate the legal services market in England and Wales. This
legislation seeks to encourage more competition and also provides new route for the complaint to
be raised by the consumers. The regulatory objectives of this legislation have been covered under
1 Chambers and Partners Ltd, ‘Ethics and the law’ (2018)
<http://www.chambersstudent.com/where-to-start/newsletter/ethics-and-the-law> accessed 04 April 2018
2 Desiree Artesi, ‘Leading the way on ethics’ (January 2017) <https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/leading-
the-way-ethics> accessed 04 April 2018
3 Legal Services Act, 2007
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section 1 where eight distinctive objectives have been provided. These include the promotion and
protection of public interest, supporting constitutional principles of rule of law, protection and
promotion of interests of consumers related to the legal services, improving upon the access to
justice, promotion of competition in the legal services provision, encouragement of strong,
independent, effective and diverse legal profession, promotion and maintenance of following the
professional principles, and increasing the understanding of public regarding the legal rights and
duties of the citizens4.
The professional principles which are covered under section 1 of this act include
authorized persons to act with integrity and independence, to maintain proper standards of work,
and acting in the client’s best interest. These principles also provide that the individuals who
exercise before a court a right of audience or where the conduct litigation related to the
proceedings in court owing to the virtue of being authorized individuals have to follow their
obligations to court for acting in autonomy in interest of justice. Lastly, the professional
principles provide that the matter of the client needs to be kept confidential5.
The duty of promoting regulatory objectives has been imposed on the Legal Services
Board through section 2 to 76. There is also a consumer panel which represents the consumers,
which are covered under section 8 to 117. This legislation also covers certain reserved legal
activities under section 128 and schedule 29. These include conduct of litigation, exercising rights
of audience, notarial activities, probate activities, administration of oaths and reserved instrument
activities which are the activities related to real property and land registration. This list is open to
4 Legal Services Act 2007, s1
5 Frank H Stephen, Lawyers, Markets and Regulation (Edward Elgar Publishing 2013)
6 Legal Services Act 2007, s2-s7
7 Legal Services Act 2007, s8-s11
8 Legal Services Act 2007, s12
9 Legal Services Act 2007, sch2
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be amended through the Order in Council of Chancellor. There are different regulators which
ensure that the provisions covered under this act are adopted, and these include Bar Council,
Law Society, and Council of Licensed Conveyancers10.
The Bar Council has presented the consultation on the future bar training, for shaping the
training and education requirements of the prospective barristers. Included in this is the role of
Inns being highlighted in context of developing and nurturing the shared culture of Bar. This
document also provides that the barristers share a culture of following or conforming to the high
standards of professional and behaviour ethics. This is not due to the fear of being punished
where they do not behave in a proper manner, but due to the belief shared by them regarding the
moral imperative of upholding high professional standards11.
The summary of the provisions, which are covered in this provision provide the need of
upholding standards and following ethics while the work of a barrister is being undertaken. Due
to these reasons, professional ethics are deemed as one of the key areas for training on the
programme of newly created ICCA, i.e. Inns of Court College of Advocacy, which had been
created in 2016 June. The ethics of barristers is underpinned in the focus of best interest of
clients and the crucial role which is played by the barristers in the society, as they are the people
who secure justice being administered and also help in upholding rule of law. Being a barrister is
way more than just being in a business and there is a need to properly perform the work so as to
follow the high ethical standards12.
10 LSB, ‘Approved regulators’ (2010) <http://www.legalservicesboard.org.uk/can_we_help/approved_regulators/
index.htm> accessed 04 April 2018
11 Bar Council, ‘Bar Council response to the Bar Standards Board Consultation on Future Bar Training: Shaping the
education and training requirements for prospective barristers’ (January 2018)
<http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/media/627546/bar_council_future_bar_training_response_0118.pdf > accessed 04
April 2018
12 At 2
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There are different ethical issues which are raised in the practice of barristers. The first and
foremost one is that lawyers use aggressive strategies to intimidate people. From the viewpoint
of consumers, the barristers have the power and they use it against them. However, in this
context, the Legal Ombudsman has stated that where such behaviour is faced by a consumer,
particularly where they get a sense of powerlessness, they can make a complaint of the barrister.
This is done in context of protecting the interest of the clients, where they are properly protected
from any unruly behaviour, where it stands against their best interest13. It is basically a mode of
ensuring that the aforementioned principles of the quoted legislation are properly upheld and met
with.
There have been committees which look after this context and ensure that the work of the
barristers is undertaken in the best possible manner, where the ethics are upheld. The Ethics
Committee ensures that the barristers serve on ethical lines and also publicise such practices
amongst the practitioners. The ethical angles are identified where the attempt is to genuinely
strive to get on the right solution. The members are made to first port of call and where there is
any unsure thing or the colleagues do not go hand in hand, an ethical enquiry line is called in.
There is thus a high level of awareness regarding the existence of line in a general manner14.
In context of upholding the ethics in the profession of barristers, the revised Code and Handbook
is provided to the members and this is useful even when it appears to be intimidating15. Often the
seniors, juniors and the practitioners alike are filed with dread when they have to navigate their
view through it. Even though the old Code of Conduct seems to very short, but it came with
13 Adam Sampson, ‘Don't be afraid to complain about your lawyer says Legal Ombudsman’ (The Guardian, 15
October 2012) <https://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/oct/15/legal-ombudsman-complaints-lawyer> accessed 04
April 2018
14 At 2
15 Marc Mason, ‘UK: Room at the Inns—The Increased Scope of Regulation under the New Bar Standards Board
Handbook for England and Wales’ (2014) 17(1) Legal Ethics 143
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lengthy annexes which had to be covered; and in this context, the structuring of the new code is
an improvement. The current code of conduct is a document where the attempt is made to
identify the basic obligations and then attempts to highlight the guidance and rules which these
infer in practice. There have been suggestions where the Code of Conduct have been stated to be
a document which is short one, but where this is done, a lot of ambiguity would remain regarding
different elements, which is of no assistance to any party. There is a need for finding the right
balance between the core principles and in the detailed guidance and rules16.
The Bar Council assists the councils in acting in an ethical manner, and in helping the
Bar Standards Board doing its job where they provide a more practical approach in a manner
where it is not weighed down in handbook in dictatorial manner. The purpose of ethics being
maintained at all times is ensured through the guidance of Bar Council being revised constantly
where the practitioners are provided with the up-to-date guidance as is possible. The individual
committee members give their time in the most generous manner to the work of updating the
guidance as this is a valued work17.
In order to highlight why there is so much focus on the ethics being followed by the
barristers, there is a need to highlight the possible scenario where ethical issues can be raised for
the barristers. The need for self reporting can be emphasized through an example. During one of
the trials in a lower court, tempers flared and a lot of abusive words were exchanged in between
the opposing counsels. Since the year of 2014, the barristers have been imposed with a duty of
reporting themselves and even each other to the Bar Standards Board and yet none of them
reported the incident. There is a duty of reporting instances where there are reasonable grounds
of deeming such instance as serious misconduct. This is particularly to be raised in context of
16 At 2
17 Ibid
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public interest and the duty is framed around this interest. There was a need for barristers to
behave in an ethical manner where they reached a sensible judgement regarding the situation.
This cannot be deemed as a serious misconduct, but where the same is felt necessary, it has to be
brought up18.
Where there had been such an issue that the court had been misled, then that had to be
reported and failure to do so would have been deemed as a failure of adhering to the applicable
code. An example of this can be seen in context of Kandakar Abdul Quddus who had been in
breach of Paragraphs 301(a) (iii) and 901 of the Code of Conduct. Quddus’s conduct was such
that the public confidence in legal profession was diminished and the profession was maligned.
This was due to him agreeing to set or run a chamber where the goal was awarding pupillage,
which was against the guidelines of bar council on pupillage regarding interview, advertising,
short listing, and selection and remunerating pupils. This was along with the awarding of
puipillage to different parties. This resulted in Quddus being suspended for 24 months from
practice and being asked to pay costs of £2247.0019.
Due to these reasons, the bodies like ICCA give a priority on ethics. The work of
Circuits, Inns and Bar Council is very significant in context of promoting high ethical standards,
and it also is complementary to the peer to peer being undertaken on daily basis in robbing
rooms or chambers. The junior end of the inns have a particularly important role which helps in
enabling new practitioners to have a fine tuned basic ethical radar where they learn from the
experienced practitioners when they discuss their issues. Even though guidance is issued and
18 Ibid
19 Bar Standards Board, ‘Past findings and future hearings’ (2018)
<https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/complaints-and-professional-conduct/disciplinary-tribunals-and-findings/
past-findings-and-future-hearings/?DisciplineID=74825> accessed 04 April 2018
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Law Ethics
seminars are conducted, there is a constant role to be played by the Bar in the active work
undertaken by the barristers20.
Conclusion
Thus, on the basis of discussion undertaken in the previous segments, it can be concluded
that there are a lot of measures which are undertaken by the bar and the other bodies in order to
ensure that the barristers follow high ethical standards. There are situations where the barristers
come across ethical issues but these have to be dealt with as per the code of conduct presented to
them through the Bar. These help in clarifying on what the right conduct is, and when the
barristers can be made liable for being unethical. A real life example of Quddus was highlighted
to explain the manner in which the barristers are disciplined where they do not act as per the
given code.
The high level of ethical standards is not just ensured through such threat of disciple but
also through the training provided by the Bar Council where they train the banisters to work with
highest level of ethical standards. Apart from this, through the legal services act, the barristers
are made to learn about the right and wrong conduct, through the restrictions and objectives
presented through this legislation. All in all, the plethora of measures adopted in this context
make the bar as a standout example of adherence to high ethical standards.
20 At 2
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Bibliography
Table of legislation
Legal Services Act, 2007
Secondary sources
Artesi D, ‘Leading the way on ethics’ (January 2017)
<https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/leading-the-way-ethics> accessed 04 April 2018
Bar Council, ‘Bar Council response to the Bar Standards Board Consultation on Future Bar
Training: Shaping the education and training requirements for prospective barristers’ (January
2018)
<http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/media/627546/bar_council_future_bar_training_response_0118.p
df > accessed 04 April 2018
Bar Standards Board, ‘Past findings and future hearings’ (2018)
<https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/complaints-and-professional-conduct/disciplinary-
tribunals-and-findings/past-findings-and-future-hearings/?DisciplineID=74825> accessed 04
April 2018
Chambers and Partners Ltd, ‘Ethics and the law’ (2018)
<http://www.chambersstudent.com/where-to-start/newsletter/ethics-and-the-law> accessed 04
April 2018
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LSB, ‘Approved regulators’ (2010)
<http://www.legalservicesboard.org.uk/can_we_help/approved_regulators/index.htm> accessed
04 April 2018
Mason M, ‘UK: Room at the Inns—The Increased Scope of Regulation under the New Bar
Standards Board Handbook for England and Wales’ (2014) 17(1) Legal Ethics 143
Sampson A, ‘Don't be afraid to complain about your lawyer says Legal Ombudsman’ (The
Guardian, 15 October 2012) <https://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/oct/15/legal-ombudsman-
complaints-lawyer> accessed 04 April 2018
10