Three years ago the decision to leave chambers to take up employment with a national firm of solicitors stripped me of rights of audience enjoyed for more than 20 years and left me begging at the door of the Bar Council for an appropriate ‘waiver’.
I had to wait many months more for a full practising certificate, but even that was insufficient to render me a ‘proper’ barrister in the eyes of more reactionary members of the Bar and, very occasionally, the judiciary. More often, however, the judiciary have sent a clear message deprecating any conduct hinting at discrimination against the employed bar (or solicitor advocates).
