Your quick guide to starting at the employed Bar
We've put together a quick guide to help you navigate your first few years of practice. We share key areas of support to explore when you’re first starting out, whatever your area of practice.
Your quick guide to starting at the self-employed Bar
We've put together a quick guide to help you navigate your first few years of practice. We've collated 5 key areas of support to explore when you’re first starting out, whatever your area of practice.
'Justice must be seen to be done as well as done': Moving the dial on open justice
This century the open justice principle has moved to a new level, from just physical access to court buildings to actively supporting reporting of the courts.
Becoming a barrister: My 9 top tips
My career path was far from what I anticipated when I was called to the Bar...
Raising the Bar’s profile at the IBA and the IBA’s profile to the Bar
Amanda Pinto KC explains the Bar Council's objectives at the IBA conference 2026
Six Pump Court - Crime (30 October 2026)
£ N/A | Crime | London | start date ASAP
Heidi Stonecliffe KC speech at the swearing in of the President of the King's Bench Division
Vice Chair of the Bar's speech at the swearing in of Sir Mark Warby
“We should be ashamed”: just one in five barristers think the public can access justice in an acceptable way
A new Bar Council report found that 4 out of 5 barristers think the public cannot access justice at an acceptable level.
Access to justice: the view from the Bar
‘Access to justice: the view from the Bar’ report found that only one in five barristers think people have an acceptable level of access to justice.
Justice needs juries: how we changed the government's course
In this blog, Chair of the Bar Council Kirsty Brimelow KC looks back at the ‘Justice needs juries’ campaign that led to the government scrapping plans to curb jury trials.
‘Justice prevails’: Bar Council hails government decision to scrap jury trial plans
The Bar Council has welcomed the government announcement that it will no longer be scrapping jury trials ahead of the Courts and Tribunals Bill returning to Parliament.
St Joseph Chambers - Mixed (2 December 2026)
£ N/A | Mixed | London | start date ASAP
Kirsty Brimelow KC speech at the swearing in of Alex Norris as Lord Chancellor
Chair of the Bar's speech at the swearing in of the Lord Chancellor and law officers
International legal associations unite to protect rule of law
The Opening of the Legal Year comes at a time of growing concern over attacks on judicial independence and increasing threats and harassment faced by lawyers worldwide.
Transparency: Now can you see why it matters?
Transparency itself is now understood to encompass not just opening up the courts to the media and legal bloggers, but to a whole host of other ways of doing family justice that make the system more understandable, more insightful, and more accountable.
Heidi Stonecliffe KC speech to the Institute of Barristers' Clerks Conference
The Vice Chair of the Bar spoke on the theme of the irreplaceable value of clerks
33 Bedford Row (Mixed) - (31 December 2026)
£ N/A | Crime, Family | London | start date Late 2026
Record court backlogs after decades of underinvestment – Bar Council
New figures revealing record court backlogs in England and Wales provide further evidence that the government should scrap the previous administration’s plans to restrict access to jury trials.
KCH Barristers - Civil (no deadline)
£ N/A | Civil | London | start date N/A
Our first collaboration in Colombo
Barrister Sailesh Mehta described the many benefits of the first ever International Legal Symposium organised by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and the Bar Council of England and Wales.