In order for you to accept instructions via licensed access, the client must either hold a licence issued by us or be a member of a body specified in the Schedules to the Licensed Access Recognition Regulations shown below.
Please refer to the BSB Handbook for rules and guidance for barristers undertaking licensed access work.
1. Authorised licensed access clients are those persons and organisations and/or their members and/or their or their members' employees (as the case may be) who have from time to time been approved as such by the Bar Standards Board.
2. Any person or organisation wishing to be approved as an authorised licensed access client shall apply in writing to the Bar Standards Board by completing an application form in such form and supplying such other information as the Bar Standards Board may from time to time or in any particular case require.
3. In approving any person or organisation as an authorised licensed access client the Bar Standards Board may grant such approval in each case as the Bar Standards Board may think appropriate:
(a)
(i) on a provisional basis or
(ii) on a full basis;
(b)
(i) for a fixed period or
(ii) for a fixed period subject to extension or
(iii) indefinitely;
(c)
(i) to the person or organisation and/or
(ii) to some or all of the members of the organisation and/or
(iii) to some or all of the employees of the person or organisation or its members;
(d) in relation to matters concerning
(i) the person or organisation and/or its members (as the case may be) and/or
(ii) his or its or its members' employees and/or
(iii) his or its or its members' clients or customers; and
(e) subject to such limitations or conditions as the Bar Standards Board may think appropriate.
4. The Bar Standards Board shall issue to every person or organisation approved as an authorised licensed access client a Licence in such form as the Bar Standards Board may from time to time or in the particular case think appropriate. Such Licence (which may be a provisional Licence or a full Licence):
(a) shall specify (i) the name of the person or organisation who has been approved as an authorised licensed access client (ii) the period (if any) for which the Licence has been granted or (as the case may be) that the Licence has been granted indefinitely and (iii) the limitations or conditions (if any) subject to which the Licence has been granted; and
(b) shall remain at all times the property of the Bar Standards Board to whom (or to whose duly appointed officer) it shall be surrendered on demand.
5. The Bar Standards Board may from time to time:
(a) approve additional persons or organisations as authorised licensed access clients;
(b) withdraw approval (either wholly or in part) from any person or organisation as an authorised licensed access client;
(c) increase reduce or otherwise alter the period for which a person or organisation is approved as an authorised licensed access client;
(d) alter or revoke the limitations or conditions (if any) attached to any approval of a person or organisation as an authorised licensed access client or impose new or additional limitations or conditions;
(e) cancel and demand the surrender of any Licence issued under paragraph 4 of these regulations.
6. In exercising their functions under paragraphs 1 2 3 4 and 5 of these regulations the Bar Standards Board shall comply with the regulatory objectives referred to in section 1 of the Legal Services Act 2007, may consult with such persons, organisations or bodies as they think appropriate and shall to such extent as they may think appropriate in the particular case have regard to the following matters:
(a) the extent to which the person or organisation or its members (as the case may be) are likely to have a significant requirement to retain the services of a barrister for their own benefit or for the benefit of their employers, employees, members clients or customers (as the case may be);
(b) the extent to which whether as a result of professional or other relevant training or by reason of practice and experience the person or organisation or its employees or members (as the case may be) are or may reasonably be expected to be
(i) providers of skilled and specialist services
(ii) competent in some identifiable area of expertise or experience
(iii) familiar with any relevant area of law
(iv) possessed of the necessary skills to obtain and prepare information and to organise papers and information sufficiently to enable the barrister to fulfil their duties in a non-contentious matter to the client and in a contentious matter both to the client and to the court
(v) possessed of the necessary skills to take charge and have the general conduct of the matters in respect of which they wish to retain the services of a barrister;
(c) the extent to which the affairs and conduct of the person or organisation or its members (as the case may be) are subject to some appropriate professional disciplinary regulatory or other organisational rules;
(d) the extent to which the person or organisation or its members (as the case may be)
(i) are insured against claims for negligence in relation to their handling of matters in respect of which they wish to retain the services of a barrister
(ii) have made and continue to comply with satisfactory arrangements for holding in separate accounts and maintaining as trust monies any monies received from third parties
(iii) have made and continue to comply with satisfactory arrangements for ensuring that barristers' fees are promptly paid; and
(e) such other facts and matters (if any) as seem to them to be relevant in the circumstances.
7. Notwithstanding paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of these regulations any member of any of the bodies referred to in the First Schedule to these regulations shall be deemed to be an authorised licensed access client (including in relation to matters concerning that member's clients or customers) but only in a matter of a kind which falls generally within the professional expertise of the members of the relevant body.
8. Notwithstanding paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of these regulations any of the following shall be deemed to be an authorised licensed access client:
(a) an arbitrator, including for these purposes an adjudicator under the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (as amended), but only when instructing a barrister for the purpose of advising on any point of law practice or procedure arising in or connected with an arbitration in which they have been or may be appointed; and
(b) any person who has been appointed to one of the offices of Ombudsman referred to in the Second Schedule to these regulations but only when instructing a barrister for the purpose of advising on any point of law practice or procedure arising in the course of the performance of their duties.
9. Nothing in paragraphs 7 and 8 of these regulations shall prevent
(a) any person to whom paragraph 7 or paragraph 8 applies making an application in accordance with paragraph 2 of these regulations (in which event paragraphs 3, 4, 5 and 6 of these regulations shall apply to such application and to any Licence issued pursuant to such application);
(b) the Bar Standards Board exercising in relation to any person to whom paragraph 7 or paragraph 8 applies the powers conferred by paragraphs 5(b), 5(c) and 5(d) of these regulations (in which event paragraph 6 of these regulations shall apply).
THE FIRST SCHEDULE (professional associations may apply to the Bar Standards Board to be added to the First Schedule in accordance with the Licensed Access Recognition Regulations)
Part I - Accountants and taxation advisers
1. The Association of Authorised Public Accountants
2. Association of Taxation Technicians
3. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
4. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
5. Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
6. Chartered Accountants Ireland
7. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
8. The Chartered Institute of Taxation
9. The Institute of Financial Accountants
Part II - Insolvency practitioners
1. Insolvency Practitioners Association
Part III - Architects, surveyors and town planners
1. Architects Registration Board
2. Association of Consultant Architects
3. The Royal Institute of British Architects
4. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
5. The Royal Town Planning Institute
6. Landscape Institute
Part IV - Engineers
1. The Institution of Chemical Engineers
2. The Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
3. The Institution of Civil Engineers
4. The Institution of Engineering and Technology
5. Institution of Mechanical Engineers
6. The Institution of Structural Engineers
Part V - Actuaries
1. The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
Part VI - Chartered secretaries and administrators
1. The Chartered Governance Institute (formerly The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators: The Governance Institute)
Part VII - Insurers
1. The Association of Average Adjusters
2. The Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters
3. The Chartered Insurance Institute
Part VIII - Trust and Estate Practitioners
1. The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
Part IX - Residential Property Management Professionals
1. The Institute of Residential Property Management Professionals (IRPM)
THE SECOND SCHEDULE (ombudsman services may apply to the Bar Standards Board to be added to the Second Schedule in accordance with the Licensed Access Recognition Regulations)
1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
2. The Commission for Local Administration
3. Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
4. The Financial Ombudsman Service
5. The Legal Ombudsman
In addition to the organisations named in the above schedules, other organisations and individuals can instruct barristers via the Licensed Access scheme. These organisations and individuals are listed on this webpage. Organisations and individuals not listed can also apply to our Authorisations Team to instruct barristers via the Licensed Access scheme.
