Michael Todd QC argues that the modern Bar is well-placed to adapt to a rapidly-evolving market

Complacency is not, and never has been, an option. The market for the supply of legal services moves constantly, quickly and is ever more demanding. Stand still and the Bar will be left behind. Embrace change and modernisation and it will flourish.

Complacency and smugness have from time to time been jibes directed at the Bar, and, in particular, at the Chancery and commercial Bars. Old-fashioned is another claim; old-fashioned, that is, in the law applied, in the premises from which the Bar operates, in the organisation of the way in which chambers are managed and in the manner in which it provides its services.

In truth, those jibes tell us more about the critic than about those at whom they are directed and reveal an ill-informed view of the modern Bar.

Revolution

True, the criticism may not always have been unfair. But what has been happening of late is a near revolution in the way we practise and the services we offer. The only reserved legal services (within the meaning of the Legal Services Act) which the Bar cannot presently perform are holding client money and service of court processes. And that may soon change.

The advocacy services it provides are second to none. A testament to its strength is the domestic and international recognition and admiration – and desire for services – of the Advocacy Training Council.

As to the provision of other litigation services, as opposed to advocacy services, the Bar has been undertaking ever increasing amounts of these over the years. It is not unusual for a member of the Bar to draft a letter before action, in addition to drafting pleadings (which has always been a service provided by the Bar), drafting witness statements or advising on disclosure. It is not unusual for a junior barrister effectively to be seconded in-house at a law firm or to a prosecuting authority to assist in the preparation of a particular piece of litigation.

Such requests for assistance come from both home and abroad, and particularly for the services of the young Bar. And in performing those services, the Bar provides valuable services to those law firms that do not have substantial litigation capabilities, particularly in specialist areas or practices. The increase in licensed professional access and direct public access, optional for those wishing to undertake it, will result in greater accessibility of the Bar to the ultimate client, both through new and alternative business structures and within the existing chambers model.

Just this year, the Bar Council has embarked on a yet further more radical and fundamental modernisation process aimed largely at preparing the Bar for direct contracting with the Legal Services Commission.

Already, further markets in which the proposed new business models can operate and flourish are being identified, both in relation to those organisations interested in block contracting and those interested in centralised contracting.

That modernisation process will enhance the Bar, which will embrace the new environment, develop new ways of working and find new areas of work.

The commercial imperatives of clients and solicitors alike, coupled with a drive from the Bar for further business and into other business areas, have resulted in a pro-active, efficient, low-cost, flexible and accessible Bar. The exploitation by the Bar of commercial opportunities and the desire to increase those opportunities still further has resulted in a new professionalism in relation to service provision, management and marketing.

Just as our work has changed, so too has the manner in which we work. That is particularly the case at the Chancery and commercial Bars which, along with the provision of extensive advocacy services, provide specialist advisory services to financial institutions, businesses and international and global law firms.

LDP myth

Talk of formation of legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs) with solicitors, and even fusion with them, may be hailed by some as the end of the Bar as a separate and independent referral profession. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know of no member of the Bar who is contemplating going into an LDP. Nor is fusion inevitable, in the sense of a loss of identity of the self-employed referral Bar.

The commercial opportunities for the Bar both domestically and internationally are potentially immense. The quality and quantity of available work, the types of work which the Bar is now prepared to undertake and the flexibility of the practice rules governing the work the Bar may do, together with the flexibility in the structures through which the Bar can source its work and provide its services, have combined to ensure that its future as a separate profession is assured.

Michael Todd QC the vice chairman-elect of the Bar Council and a tenant at Erskine Chambers.