Solicitors to Profit from Instructing Barristers

Fri, 18 Dec 2009

A legal businessman has commented that changes agreed last month by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) will allow solicitors to profit from instructing barristers . Director of online barristers’ directory Bar Select, Peter Rouse, commented that the recent changes will alter the relationship between a solicitor and a barrister, and effectively allow law firms to treat the barrister’s fee as a legal cost and mark up the cost when billing the client, thus making a profit.

Barristers may now be contracted to a legal firm for a particular case or a certain period of time, while at the same time engaging in practice from chambers. Currently, the barristers fee is treated as a disbursement and the solicitor may only bill the client for that fee.

Chief Executive of law firm consultancy 360 Legal Group, Viv Williams, commented that the change was a good move for law firms and the bar, giving solicitors the chance to earn extra money without reducing the volume of work given to the bar and without the cost of recruiting and retaining in-house advocates.
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