So now they tell us. Until recently any suggestion that the Bar’s rules might be just a tad restrictive were met with howls of protest by the Bar Council. If it wasn’t evoking the imminent prospect of the UK becoming a totalitarian state then it was issuing dire warnings that terrorists might exploit new rules on alternative business structures to take over chambers.

The tone of today’s consultation paper on a complete rewrite of the Bar’s Code of Conduct could not be more different.