Barristers returning from the Christmas break might have been taken aback by reports that Stephen Hockman QC, the new chairman of the Bar Council, had switched the representative body’s stance on the controversial issue of legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs), originally proposed by Sir David Clementi.
Hockman said in an interview with a national newspaper that barristers stood to gain commercially from ‘Tesco law’ plans that would permit partnerships with solicitors and allow external investors to buy a stake in law firms.
