How Chambers should describe a former member of Chambers who has now become a member of the Judiciary

1. Concerns have been reported to the Professional Conduct and Complaints Committee of the Bar Council about the recent practice of describing former members of Chambers who are full-time members of the judiciary as `associate members of Chambers’.

 

2. The practice should be discontinued. Section 75 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 provides that full-time members of the judiciary shall not practice as a barrister or be indirectly concerned in any such practice. Describing full-time members of the judiciary as associate members of Chambers suggests that the full-time members of the judiciary are concerned in the practice of Chambers. The PCC takes this opportunity to remind sets of Chambers that rule 710.2 (b) of the Code of Conduct states: “Advertising or promotion must not be likely to diminish public confidence in the legal profession or the administration of justice”.

 

3. This guidance is not intended to prevent the historic practice of listing for members of Chambers who are full-time members of the judiciary on the Chambers board, so long as, either by express description (for example describing the full-time members of the judiciary as `former members of Chambers’) or by the lay out of the board (for example having the names of the full-time judiciary separated by a space from the names of practising members of Chambers), it is made plain that those full-time members of the judiciary are not members of Chambers.

Professional Conduct and Complaints Committee