Direct Access to a Barrister

You can now instruct a barrister direct. There is no need to go to a solicitor for many disputes and legal questions. This has a number of advantages over the traditional system of going to a solicitor, who then instructs a barrister on your behalf:

You can choose a barrister who specialises in the area of law you need.

You will save time, because there is no-one between you and the source of your advice, or mouthpiece in court.

Asking for advice or help in a court case direct is usually less expensive than going to solicitors first.

You get to speak to your advisor with no intermediary.

Barristers can accept work direct from:

Members of the public

Companies and firms

Local authorities

Housing associations

Other professionals, especially accountants and surveyors.

Barristers in Unity Street Chambers can offer advice and help with the following types of law:

Employment Law

Landlord and Tenant

Housing

Local Government

Personal Injury

General Common Law

Professional Negligence claims against doctors, surveyors and solicitors

Boundary disputes

Commercial disputes

Sale of Goods

Human Rights

Building Disputes

What your barrister can do for you:

Give you legal advice either about avoiding disputes or resolving them.

Help you to correspond with others, to draft court documents and statements.

Represent you or your organisation in courts and tribunals across England and Wales.

If the barrister cannot do the work for you, he will tell you what you need to do and how to do it. In rare cases he may advise you to instruct a solicitor as an intermediary between him and you.

Charges will generally be between £150 and £180 an hour plus VAT, payable before the work is done by the barrister. Court hearings are charged at a daily rate which is not simply calculated as a multiple of the number of hours spent preparing, travelling and doing the case, so may be lower than you anticipate. Often people and organisations have legal expenses insurance which will cover the cost of instructing the barrister direct. Exceptionally a Conditional Fee Agreement might be possible. Further details are available from Clair Wadden, the Senior Clerk.

Barristers who work under the public access scheme in Unity Street Chambers are licensed by the Bar Council and work in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Barristers and under the Public Access Rules.

To find out more about public access work in general visit the Bar Council website. There you will see the types of case a barrister in which can help directly and the sort of work they can do.

To contact a barrister at Unity Street Chambers under the public access scheme, please phone on 0117 906 9789 and ask to speak to the Clerks or send an email to Clair Wadden, the Senior Clerk. She will email or fax you a form to check whether the case can be done under the scheme, which you can email, fax or post back to us.
You will then be asked to come into Chambers to meet the barrister and confirm that the work can be done by him. At that meeting you will be given an agreement between you and the individual barrister which you can sign and return by email, fax or post if you are happy to instruct the barrister to do the work.