Our responsibilities
We are responsible for:
• setting the education and training requirements for becoming a barrister;
• setting continuing training requirements to ensure that barristers' skills are maintained throughout their careers;
• setting standards of conduct for barristers;
• authorising organisations that focus on advocacy, litigation, and specialist legal advice;
• monitoring the service provided by barristers and the organisations we authorise to ensure they meet our requirements; and
• considering reported concerns about barristers and the organisations we authorise and taking enforcement or other action where appropriate.
The work that we do is governed by The Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act) as well as a number of other statutes.
The Regulatory Objectives
In discharging our regulatory functions, we seek to meet the Regulatory Objectives which are set out in the Legal Services Act 2007. We share them with the other legal services regulators. They are:
• protecting and promoting the public interest;
• supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law;
• improving access to justice;
• protecting and promoting the interests of consumers;
• promoting competition in the provision of services;
• encouraging an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession;
• increasing public understanding of citizens' legal rights and duties; and
• promoting and maintaining adherence to the professional principles; and
• promoting the prevention and detection of economic crime.
The professional principles are:
• that authorised persons should act with independence and integrity;
• that authorised persons should maintain proper standards of work;
• that authorised persons should act in the best interests of their clients;
• that persons who exercise before any court a right of audience, or conduct litigation in relation to proceedings in any court, by virtue of being authorised persons should comply with their duty to the court to act with independence in the interests of justice; and
• that the affairs of clients should be kept confidential.
More about our work
To learn more about various aspects of work, please select from the following:
