Regulatory expectations of chambers

While most barristers source their instructions from solicitors or other professionals or on a direct public access basis, some barristers use the marketing services of other types of intermediaries. Such arrangements are likely to engage the Associations rules. This is because these services, while they may offer significant benefits to both barristers and clients, can give rise to risks to consumers.  This is especially so when barristers’ fees are collected by a third party.  There is also potential for conflicts of interest in third party relationships and for lack of transparency about fees and complaints handling arrangements. We are aware that some barristers working in chambers use such introducers or intermediaries to source work (and the instructions are not always administered through chambers’ usual processes).  We are particularly keen to ensure that these arrangements are reported to us so that we can assess the risks to the public.

Accordingly, Rules C79-85 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook set out the requirements for working in associations with others. The Handbook defines an association as where:

BSB authorised persons are sharing premises and/or costs and/or using a common vehicle for obtaining or distributing work with any person other than a BSB regulated person, in a manner which does not require the association to be authorised as an entity under the Legal Services Act 2007.

rC80 says that where barristers are in an association on more than a one-off basis, they must notify the Bar Standards Board and provide details of that association. The rules also set obligations to communicate and manage material commercial interests arising from the association and the potential for conflict.

The obligation to report an association also applies when entering into an arrangement to supervise an immigration adviser who is otherwise unregulated, which is permitted under section 84(2) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (as amended). This is so that we can ensure that appropriate supervision arrangements are in place, in line with our published guidance.

The primary requirement to notify the Bar Standards Board of such associations rests on individual barristers. However, we expect chambers to ensure that their barristers do notify the Bar Standards Board if they enter into an association. And we would expect a barrister with governance responsibilities within chambers, such as Head of Chambers, to notify the Bar Standards Board of any association involving the use of chambers’ premises or resources by non-authorised individuals.

We are currently undergoing a review of the market for third party intermediation and our associated rule structure, including associations. We expect to be able to provide more detailed information about this market and barristers’ responsibilities within the year.

Information about notifying the BSB of an association with others

Guidance on supervising immigration advisers

Though the requirement to renew the authorisation to practise rests with individual barristers, we expect that chambers will support their barristers in completing the Authorisation to Practise process each year and in making the correct declarations about their income, insurance, Continuing Professional Development, associations and areas of practice.

A practising certificate is required to hold yourself out as a barrister in connection with the supply of legal services or to undertake any reserved legal activities. Reserved legal activities include exercising rights of audience, conducting litigation, reserved instrument activities, probate activities and the administration of oaths. ‘Legal services’ are defined further in the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

Key information for barristers about the annual ATP process.

The Bar Standards Board, as regulator, and the Bar Council share a commitment to address bullying and harassment at the Bar which surveys show to be prevalent but under-reported.  Chambers have an important role to play because the root cause of bullying and harassment is often the power imbalance inherent in the personal relationships between pupils and supervisors and between junior and senior barristers.  These relationships are often set within the chambers’ environment.  This imbalance also inhibits the reporting of bullying and harassment when it occurs.

We, therefore, expect chambers to create and promote a culture in which bullying and harassment are not tolerated and in which support is provided to pupils, barristers or chambers’ staff who experience unacceptable behaviour. To this end chambers should have robust policies and processes to deal with bullying and harassment and to encourage the reporting of unacceptable behaviour. Chambers also have a role to play in arranging relevant training, and encouraging barristers and staff to attend relevant training.

We have published Guidance for all those involved in reports of harassment to the Bar Standards Board, which sets out what to expect from our processes. We are also developing a webpage on how we deal with reports related to bullying and harassment.

Where chambers employ staff, barristers must also ensure, as part of their practice management responsibilities, that the chambers is complying with its legal obligations proactively to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023.  

Based on the Bar Standards Board's work on the Addressing Bullying and Harassment at the Bar project, the Bullying, Discrimination and Harassment at the Bar research  (2020) and the Addressing Bullying and Harassment at the Bar report (2022), the Bar Standards Board has sought to reduce the risks of bullying and harassment at the Bar, to ensure that effective systems are in place in chambers to handle reports of bullying and harassment, and to encourage the profession to tackle this issue effectively. The Bar Standards Board hopes to increase the proportion of cases which are reported to us, given the current problem of under-reporting, and seeks to demonstrate that such behaviours are not tolerated.

We encourage all bullying and harassment to be reported, but those who have experienced harassment will not be penalised for not doing so. BSB Guidance for those involved in reports of harassment.

The Bar Standards Board has been working closely with the review of bullying and harassment commissioned by the Bar Council in 2024 from Baroness Harman and expect to review this guidance in the light of Baroness Harman’s recommendations.

Information from Bar Council on bullying and harassment.

Complaints about barristers within chambers must be handled promptly and appropriately in conformity with the Complaints Rules set out in rules rC99-rC109 of the Handbook and the associated First Tier Complaints Handling Guidance.   Complaints are also a valuable source of feedback about the professional competence and service skills of barristers. We expect chambers to have in place responsive arrangements for handling complaints. We also expect chambers to have regard to any complaints in discharging their responsibilities to promote high professional and ethical standards among their tenants. For more information, please see the section on Professional Standards below.

Complaints by clients will typically relate to the conduct of, and service provided by, an individual barrister. However, under the Complaints Rules, it falls to chambers to receive and address such complaints in the first instance. Accordingly, chambers must:

• establish a complaints procedure (rC103) which their tenants must communicate to clients on instruction, alongside information about the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman;
• display information about the procedure prominently on their website alongside links to the Legal Ombudsman and to the Barristers’ Register (rC103);
• acknowledge complaints promptly and provide to the complainant the information set out in rC104;
• advise the complainant of the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman once the complaint has been dealt with (rC105); and
• maintain records of complaints handled, which should be kept confidential, and, based on these records, provide an annual report on the number of complaints received, the nature of the complaints and the outcomes (rC109).

Where a complaint relates to the conduct of a barrister as well as to the service provided, a report should be made to the Bar Standards Board. 

The Bar Standards Board’s First Tier Complaints Handling Guidance sets out further information about the scope of chambers’ complaints handling, details about obligations to notify clients of their right to complain, and guidance to chambers in developing chambers complaints processes.

Handbook rC99-rC109

First-tier complaints handling guidance.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 aims to promote the prevention and detection of economic crime. Economic crime is a broad term that includes fraud, corruption, money laundering and sanctions evasion. It is an area of national focus captured in the Economic Crime Plan 2023-2026.

There are two specific areas where we expect chambers to support their barristers in meeting their obligations by having appropriate controls and procedures in place at chambers level. These are in relation to Money Laundering Regulations and the sanctions regime.

The chambers’ management committee or its equivalent should be aware of the risk to which chambers is exposed based on a collective understanding of which of their barristers conduct work that is in scope of the Money Laundering Regulations and/or work that potentially engages the sanctions regime. This understanding should extend to the potential impact of the practice of individual barristers on the risk profile of chambers as a whole.

Barristers are required to declare whether they do work that is in scope of the Money Laundering Regulations when they apply for or renew their practising certificates. We expect chambers to know which barristers have made such a declaration and we expect chambers to support them in making a correct declaration.

Appropriate controls should be in place when barristers accept instructions, particularly in relation to conducting customer due diligence and sanctions checks. Clerks should understand their role in this.

To this end, appropriate training should be arranged for chambers’ staff as well as barristers.

We expect chambers to have documented chambers-wide risk assessments, policies and procedures, which will help to ensure that their barristers and staff are not breaching relevant legislation.

Further resources to ensure compliance can be found on the following pages. Note that the guidance on the Money Laundering Regulations has been written with other legal sector regulators and representative bodies, so the same guidance can also be found on the Bar Council’s website.

Bar Standard Board website:

Information and guidance about obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations

Information and guidance about obligations under the UK sanctions regime

Bar Council website:

Policies and procedures for chambers – Governance

• Anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy
• Anti-bribery and corruption policy

Ethics and Practice Hub

• Sanctions guidance
• Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

There is continuing evidence that women barristers and barristers from minoritised ethnic backgrounds do not have equal opportunities to advance their careers at the Bar. This evidence is most recently marshalled in the Bar Council Report: Race at the Bar; three years on and the Bar Standards Board’s annual report on Diversity at the Bar.

As the regulator of the Bar of England and Wales, the Bar Standards Board has a statutory objective, in exercising its regulatory functions, to ‘encourage an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession’ (The Legal Services Act 2007). We also have legal requirements to fulfil under the Equality Act 2010 and a Public Sector Equality Duty.

Consistent with these duties, the Bar Standards Board places practice management obligations - Equality Rules - on barristers as members of chambers to promote equality. This reflects the key role which chambers play in the recruitment, development and progression of barristers. We expect chambers to encourage diversity through their strategies, policies, behaviours and workplace culture. Chambers should embed inclusive practices to ensure that the profession can be entered and accessed by all and that all barristers of whatever background experience a fair, respectful and positive culture during their professional careers.

Under the existing Equality Rules chambers must:

• have a written statement of policy on equality and diversity and a plan to implement that policy;
• appoint an Equality and Diversity Officer and a Diversity Data Officer;
• use objective and fair recruitment criteria and training members of recruitments panels in fair recruitment and selection processes;
• monitor equality and diversity within chambers on the basis set out in the Equality Rules, including the distribution of unallocated work;
• have in place policies on harassment, parental leave, flexible working and reasonable adjustments;
• invite members of chambers to provide diversity data about themselves and publish anonymised breakdowns of those data on the chambers’ website.

We expect chambers to collect diversity data from their barristers, analysing where any underrepresentation lies and at which levels (e.g. pupils, barristers, KCs) and taking positive action to address underrepresentation throughout the lifecycle of a barrister’s career, e.g. by monitoring data on recruitment, retention, attrition and promotion and addressing identified issues.  This might include taking steps to tackle barriers to progression to the senior levels of the profession.

We are currently reviewing the Equality Rules following a consultation which ran  from September to November 2024: Equality Rules Consultation September 2024. Further guidance will be issued in due course. Please see further useful resources for chambers on the Bar Council’s website and Bar Council’s Ethics and Practice Hub.

Bar Standard Board website:

Annual summary of the latest available diversity data for the Bar

Chambers’ constitutions (sometimes referred to as articles of associations or members’ agreements) are used to formalise the internal culture and policies of the chambers, to define the rights and responsibilities of its members, and to lay out how the chambers will support the practices of each of its individual barristers.

The Bar Standards Board does not currently make rules governing chambers’ governance, and chambers are free to draft their own constitutions.  However, we expect all chambers to have a constitution, or equivalent document, clearly setting out accountabilities within the chambers, including for the issues covered by this webpage.

Please see further useful resources for chambers on the Bar Council’s website.

Chambers have an important role to play in managing the risks related to cyber security, as well as the broader legal and regulatory framework.

The Bar Standards Board expects chambers to ensure barristers are familiar with the following rules:

CD6 - you must keep the affairs of each client confidential

CD10 - you must take reasonable steps to manage your practice, or carry out your role within your practice, competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations

rC15.5 - you must protect the confidentiality of each client’s affairs, except for such disclosures as are required or permitted by law or to which your client gives informed consent.

rC89.5 - proper arrangements must be made for ensuring the confidentiality of clients’ affairs (see further detail below)

rC89.8 - appropriate risk management procedures are in place and are being complied with.

Barristers, practising pupils and chambers must also of course comply with the Data Protection Act.

Ensuring Cyber Security and Regulatory Reporting of Data Breaches

In light of recent high-profile cyber-attacks and data outages, we would remind barristers in chambers to regularly review their information and data security policies. The Bar is reliant on electronic communication and data storage, and it is imperative that all barristers and chambers take proactive steps to safeguard client information and maintain the integrity of their digital practices.

Cyber security

Rule C89.8 of the BSB Handbook requires barristers to have appropriate risk management procedures in place in chambers and to ensure that those procedures are being complied with. Chambers can do this by having an information security policy in place that identifies and addresses the key risks posed to their information network and incorporates business continuity planning and contingency arrangements that deal with common attacks on networks such as ransomware, malware and social engineering attacks. 

The Bar Council’s Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR sets out a range of template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR.

Small chambers may find the National Cyber Security Centre’s guide to small businesses and information security helpful. Implementing the actions outlined in the guide could significantly reduce the chance of your becoming a victim of cyber-crime.

Reporting data breaches

The obligation to report a personal data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is set out in section 67 of the Data Protection Act. The ICO has a useful Personal data breaches guide on its website.

Chambers and sole practitioners can meet their obligations by maintaining a record of physical and digital data breaches, as well as all near misses, that occur in the practice. Having a record in place supports compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, which requires data controllers to report to the Information Commissioner’s Office personal data breaches that are likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms.

Maintaining a record, reviewing incidents and documenting what lessons have been learned helps to ensure that you are compliant with Core Duty 6 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations).

If a data breach occurs, it is important that it is risk-assessed as soon as possible after discovery, and an evaluation is made as to which parties need to be notified. The Bar Council has provided guidance on what to do when you lose papers or when your data security is breached and the Information Commissioner’s Office has published guidance for sole-traders and small organisations and for larger organisations on what the assessment process should look like and which parties should be notified, based on the nature and size of the breach.

Rule C65 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook requires you to report to the Bar Standard Board if you are the subject of any disciplinary or other regulatory or enforcement action by another regulator, which includes the ICO.

The resources below provide further guidance on information security and data protection 

UK GDPR  

We expect chambers to ensure barristers are familiar with their obligations under the following legislation.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation

Data Protection Act 2018

The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 is still in force and cover website cookies and marketing emails and texts

The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003

Information from the Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) provides further guidance for organisations on data protection, security and data breaches

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidance for organisations

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidance on Security, including cyber security 

Bar Council

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR

National Cyber Security Centre

Guide to small businesses and information security

Barristers practising from chambers are self-employed professionals with obligations to maintain and develop the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to provide high-quality legal services throughout their careers.

We expect chambers proactively to help their pupils and tenants maintain and develop professional competence in their own interests as well as those of consumers and the justice system.

Chambers are uniquely placed to do this because they receive feedback about barristers' performance from a wide range of sources, including professional clients, lay clients, judges, other barristers, and clerks.

With this in mind, chambers should actively monitor complaints and convey feedback to their barristers in a supportive and structured way, for example, as part of practice management reviews. In taking this approach chambers will help barristers reflect on their practices, identify their learning objectives and suitable activities to achieve them, reflect on completed activities, and record the results of their efforts as part of their approach to continuing professional development.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

We expect chambers to support their barristers' professional development and help them fulfil their CPD obligations.

Part 4-C of the BSB Handbook.

CPD Guidance including NPP and EPP..

CPD Templates and Examples.

CPD Guidance for Chambers and Employers.

CPD Good Practice Case Studies.

Key findings of our 2024 CPD spot checks which includes information about our approach, key findings, the action we have already taken, and next steps.

All practising barristers must complete their Continuing Professional Development. The Continuing Professional Development Rules can be found in Part 4-C of the BSB Handbook.

Barristers must complete the New Practitioners Programme (NPP) in the first three years of practice. After completing the NPP, they must meet the requirements of the Established Practitioners Programme (EPP) on a continuing basis.

We expect chambers to broker feedback on their barristers’ performance, support their professional development, and help them fulfil their Continuing Professional Development obligations by assisting them in identifying their training needs. The resources listed above can help chambers do this.

Professional Statement

The Professional Statement sets the competence standards that barristers should have on day one of practice and which they should not fall below throughout their careers. Practising barristers may use it in their approach to meeting their Continuing Professional Development obligations, including maintaining up-to-date professional knowledge, skills, and expertise.

We may use the Professional Statement as an evidential point of reference when a breach of the requirement for competent practice as set out in Core Duty 7 and elsewhere in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, the sole reference point for disciplinary matters, is raised as a matter of complaint.

We expect chambers to ensure that their barristers understand, maintain, and develop the competence standards set out in the Professional Statement. The ways in which chambers can do this include, but are not limited to:

• encouraging barristers to identify whether they need to maintain or develop any of the competence standards it sets out as part of their Continuing Professional Development activities.
• arranging or signposting activities to help barristers maintain or develop their competence in specific areas of the Professional Statement.
• assessing pupillage applicants and supervising pupil barristers against the competence standards in the Professional Statement.
• considering whether complaints identify issues with any of the competence standards in the Professional Statement and, if so, taking appropriate action in response.

The Bar Standards Board also makes specific requirements for barristers working in some specialist areas. We expect chambers to support barristers working in these areas to comply with their obligations and to gain and maintain the necessary competences.

Coroners’ Courts competences

Coroners' Courts Competences

Coroners' Courts Resources

Our Coroners’ Courts Competences, which are supported by a toolkit of resources, set out the specialist competence standards we expect from barristers practising in the Coroners' Courts. The Competences and toolkit can be used to help barristers identify whether they meet the standards we expect, and if not, on what they should focus in their CPD activities.

As with the Professional Statement, we may use our Coroners’ Courts Competences as an evidential point of reference when a breach of the requirement for competent practice set out in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, which remains the sole reference point for disciplinary matters, is reported to us.

We expect chambers with barristers who practise in the Coroners’ Courts to ensure they understand, maintain, and develop their Coroners’ Courts Competences. Ways chambers can do this include, but are not limited to:

• Raising awareness of our Coroners’ Courts Competences and resources.
• Encouraging barristers practising or preparing to practise in the Coroners’ Courts to identify whether they need to maintain or develop any of the Coroners’ Courts Competences as part of their CPD activities.
• Arranging or signposting activities to help barristers who practice in the Coroners’ Courts to maintain or develop their competence in this specialist area.

Youth Proceedings Competences

Youth Proceedings Competences

Compulsory registration of youth proceedings work.

Barristers who practise in youth proceedings or plan to do so in the 12 months following re-registration must declare this at Authorisation to Practise. Registration appears publicly on the Barristers’ Register.

Pupil barristers must still register if they intend to practise in youth proceedings during the practising period of their pupillage when they register for their provisional practising certificate.

When barristers register for youth proceedings work, they make a declaration that they meet our Youth Proceedings Competences, which set out the specialist competence standards we expect from barristers practising in youth proceedings.

Barristers can use the competences to help identify whether they meet the standards we expect, and if not, what they should focus on as part of their CPD activities.

As with the Professional Statement, we may use our Youth Proceedings Competences as an evidential point of reference when a breach of the requirement for competent practice, as set out in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, is raised as a matter of complaint.

We expect chambers with barristers who practise in youth proceedings to ensure they register their work in this area and understand, maintain, and develop our Youth Proceedings Competences. The ways in which chambers can do this include, but are not limited to:

• Raising awareness of our Youth Proceedings Competences.
• Checking that barristers who practise in youth proceedings or plan to do so in the next 12 months have registered this.
• Encouraging barristers practising or preparing to practise in youth proceedings to identify whether they need to maintain or develop any of the Youth Proceedings Competences as part of their CPD activities.
• Arranging or signposting activities to help barristers who practise in youth proceedings to maintain or develop their competence in this specialist area.

Most chambers require their barristers to administer their public access work through chambers. However, some barristers conduct their public access work outside chambers, effectively working as a sole practitioner for this purpose. These barristers should ensure that their Bar Council records accurately reflect both their membership of chambers and their practice outside, so that we can effectively supervise both aspects of their practice. They should also ensure that any source of instructions received through unregulated intermediaries is reported to the Bar Standards Board as an association.

Our Code Guidance for Public Access work includes information for clerks and clients, as well as barristers, and there are model client care letters available.

Code Guidance for the Public Access rules

The Bar Council also produced guidance for public access barristers, available on their Ethics and Practice Hub.

All chambers intending to offer pupillages must be authorised by us as training providers (called ‘Authorised Education and Training Organisations’ or ‘AETOs’). This section covers the requirements for chambers providing pupillage in accordance with the principles of the Authorisation Framework, including the requirements in relation to fair recruitment. 

We expect that chambers authorised by us as pupillage providers will ensure their barristers comply with these requirements. Throughout their pupillage, chambers should support their pupils to reach the point of full qualification in accordance with the Professional Statement. This will include ensuring that pupils complete the compulsory courses and assessments within this component of Bar training and are certified as having met the appropriate standards to apply for their provisional and first full practising certificates.

Chambers should refer to the resources in this section to ensure that they are up to date with our current requirements for pupillage providers, including the means to apply for any relevant waiver or exemption applications, where appropriate.  There are also some useful resources for chambers on the Bar Council’s website.

Becoming a barrister: an overview

Our website provides an overview of the process for becoming a barrister for students, pupils and transferring qualified lawyers.

Information about becoming a barrister and the different components of Bar training

Bar Qualification Manual

The Bar Qualification Manual is our comprehensive manual containing everything you need to know about the Bar Qualification Rules, and training and qualifying as a barrister.

Pupillage/work-based learning component of Bar training

Our website explains what pupillage or work-based learning is and where it fits into the authorised pathways to becoming a practising barrister.

Pupillage Overview

From this page, you can download Guidance for organisations intending to provide work-based learning Bar training (pupillage) under the Authorisation Framework.

Guidance for organisations intending to provide work-based learning Bar training (pupillage) under the Authorisation Framework

Pupil Supervisors

It is for chambers to decide who is suitable to be a pupil supervisor. Section 4B of the Bar Qualification Manual sets out factors that chambers should consider when deciding who should take on this role.

Chambers must ensure that their pupil supervisors have received appropriate training before supervising a pupil and continue to receive appropriate training in accordance with the outcomes and frequency specified by us in the Bar Qualification Manual. Training records should be maintained. Attendance at formal training events can only cover a certain amount of ground in one session; in practice, the outcomes are likely to be met by a combination of self-study (reading the relevant documentation issued by us), briefing by chambers (chambers will need to ensure that their pupil supervisors are familiar with, and can apply, their own policies and procedures that are relevant to pupillage) and attendance at training provided by third parties (where not available in-house). Pupil supervisors should also reflect on their training needs when considering their Continuing Professional Development plans.

Bar Qualification Manual

Pupillage Processes 

From this page, you can download our process documents relating to pupillage registration, sign off, and material changes and the role of the Bar Standards Board and other stakeholders in carrying out these processes.

Pupillage processes

Pupillage Forms

From this page, you can download a copy of the forms and guidance relating to registration of a pupillage, satisfactory completion of a pupillage, and notification of material changes to a pupillage.  

Pupillage forms  

Forthcoming changes to pupillage courses

As part of our review of Bar training, our Board agreed a series of recommendations on all aspects of barrister training put forward by our Curriculum and Assessment Review group. We have now updated the Curriculum and Assessment Strategy to reflect the new requirements for the compulsory course in advocacy. The Curriculum and Assessment Review group are currently finalising the requirements for the new negotiation course. The requirement for pupils to undertake the new negotiation course will not come in before September 2025.

Information about pupillage courses in advocacy and negotiation from autumn 2024

Barrister training: waivers & exemptions

Find out more about how to apply for waivers and exemptions from the various components of Bar training, including reductions in pupillage and waivers of the pupillage funding, advertising & recruitment requirements.

Waivers and exemptions from BSB Handbook rules relating to qualifying as a barrister

Our transparency rules are intended to help consumers understand the price and service they will receive, how to make a complaint, and the regulatory status of their provider.

We have mandatory rules for all barristers, which includes information that must be clearly displayed on chambers websites and available in a factsheet. Chambers must:

• state that professional, licensed access and/or lay clients (as appropriate) may contact an individual barrister, chambers or Bar Standards Board entity to obtain a quotation for legal services;
• provide contact details;
• state an individual barrister's, chambers' or Bar Standards Board entity's most commonly used pricing models for legal services, such as fixed fee or hourly rate;
• state the areas of practice in which an individual barrister, chambers or Bar Standards Board entity most commonly provides legal services;
• state and provide a description of the barrister's, chambers' or Bar Standards Board entity's most commonly provided legal services;
• provide information about the factors which might influence the timescales of the barrister's, chambers' or Bar Standards Board entity's most commonly provided legal services;
• display the appropriate "regulated by the Bar Standards Board" text on the homepage: for sole practitioners, "regulated by the Bar Standards Board", for chambers, "barristers regulated by the Bar Standards Board" and for Bar Standards Board entities, "authorised and regulated by the Bar Standards Board";
• display information about the complaints procedure, any right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), how to complain to the LeO, and any time limits for making a complaint.

LeO decision data

BSB Barristers' Register

There are also additional rules for barristers who supply legal services direct to the public.

Further information is available on the transparency section of our code guidance page, which also includes examples of good practice and templates to support you.

What you need to do to comply with our transparency rules

Templates

While the Bar Standards Board does not have specific rules on promoting wellbeing, we recognise that wellbeing of barristers is important if they are to meet their own duties, including to clients. Their wellbeing also plays a vital role in helping the Bar Standards Board to meet its broader regulatory objectives.

We also want to ensure that risks to wellbeing do not prevent the progression of barristers from a diverse range of backgrounds, the retention of experienced practitioners, or the return of experienced barristers to the profession. In an inclusive profession, it is important that barristers can combine working life with family life and caring responsibilities.

We, therefore, encourage chambers to support barristers in managing the balance between their personal and professional responsibilities. 

You can also find advice about setting up a wellbeing policy on the Bar Council’s website.

BSB commitment to wellbeing