The Bar Standards Board (BSB) believes that Tribunal hearings of the cases we bring against barristers should generally be held in public. We believe that to maintain the confidence of both the profession and the public in our regulation of barristers, justice should be open.
The Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS) is responsible for appointing and administering Disciplinary Tribunals and its tribunals are independent of the BSB. The BSB is responsible for bringing charges of professional misconduct against barristers, which BTAS tribunal panels then adjudicate. Where charges are proved the sanctions imposed are a matter for the tribunal having regard to the facts of the individual case and the BTAS Sanctions Guidance. Disciplinary Tribunals are usually listed in advance on the BTAS website and journalists and others are welcome to attend.
Directions hearings deal with the process to be followed in a Tribunal hearing and, in some cases, whether or not a case should proceed to a Tribunal at all. Directions hearings are heard not by a Tribunal but by a single Directions Judge. Unlike a substantive Disciplinary Tribunal these hearings are usually held in private, but it is for the Directions Judge, and not the BSB, to determine how such a hearing is conducted.
The BSB generally does not comment on individual cases unless and until a Tribunal hearing has concluded.
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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
Contact: For all media enquiries call: 07432 713 328 or email [email protected].
