HOW CAN YOUR BARRISTER HELP YOU AS A LITIGANT IN PERSON?

DIRECT PUBLIC ACCESS GUIDANCE

WHAT WORK CAN OUR BARRISTER DO FOR YOU?

For many litigants in person, working directly with a barrister at court tends to be appropriate, where you are able to handle the administrative side of things yourself. In a family law case, direct access is a good way of concentrating your financial resources for a court hearing that you might otherwise be conducting yourself, giving you a better chance of getting the outcome you want.

Instructing a direct access barrister to assist you with your case and/or represent you at a hearing, you remain a litigant in person throughout the proceedings, and the court papers and correspondence will be sent to you and not your barrister. However, your barrister will still be able to advise you about the implications of the documents you receive and guide you in your responses.

Barristers are not able to provide some of the services that solicitors offer e.g. we cannot file and serve documents on your behalf.  You as the Litigant in Person will be responsible for that. Our barrister will carry out the work agreed under a formal instruction (after cleared funds) however it is for you to ensure that work is filed and served at court and other parties.  It is also your responsibility to ensure that you comply with the orders of the court. 

Another example is that if the other party is a Litigant in Person or represented by solicitors, it is for you to communicate directly with the other party or their solicitor however your barrister can provide legal advice to assist you with the draft (contents of the subject matter) of that communication.  Our barristers do not have conduct of litigation and this kind of work is deemed conduct of litigation and outside the remit of our Chambers.

REGULATED BY THE BAR STANDARDS BOARD

Direct Access barristers are regulated by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board and have strict professional rules by which they abide, giving you the benefit of consumer protection and the backing of a professional conduct regime built up over centuries. 

Only the barristers who have achieved a specialist direct access qualification are allowed to work directly with clients.

If you would like more information about how a public access barrister could work with you directly, and/or the Bar Standards Board Handbook – Public Access Guidance for Lay Clients prepared by Bar Standards Board – please click the link .