Are you a barrister in self-employed practice and keen to make a contribution to the regulation of barristers? The Bar Standards Board (BSB), the independent regulatory body for barristers in England and Wales, is seeking self-employed barrister members for its Independent Decision-Making Body (IDB).
If a barrister or body we regulate appears to have broken the rules in the BSB Handbook, the IDB decides whether to pass the case on to a Disciplinary Tribunal, to deal with the case themselves under the Determination by Consent rules, or, if there is not enough evidence that the rules have been broken, to dismiss the case. The IDB also makes decisions about appeals that have been made against a decision not to license a body to provide legal services, or appeals against decisions not to allow a barrister or authorised body not to meet specific BSB Handbook requirements. The work of an IDB member will include preparing for, and attending panel meetings, attending training sessions as required and ensuring that they stay up to date with issues related to the regulation of the Bar. The opportunity to chair panel meetings will also be available.
We are seeking five self-employed practising barrister members, from any specialism, to join the IDB. We welcome applications from senior practitioners, and we also welcome applications from barristers with knowledge of supervising barristers during their pupillage. However, neither of these is an essential requirement.
We welcome applications from barristers who meet the role requirements and particularly encourage those from groups that are currently underrepresented in our independent decision-making processes such as people from minority ethnic groups, people who are LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities.
For more information on how to apply, please review the candidate pack. Candidates should provide a covering letter outlining how they meet the competencies as set out in the candidate pack, together with a CV, supporting details form and equality and diversity monitoring form (optional). The closing date for applications is Monday 1 August 2022 (9:00am).
If you have any queries, please contact Rebecca Forbes, Head of Governance and Corporate Services, in the first instance: [email protected]
Notes to editors
About the Bar Standards Board
Our mission is to regulate barristers and specialised legal services businesses in England and Wales in the public interest. For more information about what we do visit: http://bit.ly/1gwui8t
About the Independent Decision-Making Body
The Independent Decision-Making Body (IDB) is a non-executive body responsible for taking all our regulatory decisions that require independent scrutiny, and has been operating since September 2019. It consists of a pool of suitably qualified decision makers from which panels of lay and barrister members are formed to take decisions on individual cases - panels of three are used for authorisations and five for enforcement cases. For more information please visit: https://bit.ly/3ODlAr5
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