In September, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) launched its third consultation addressing the implications of the Legal Services Act (LSA). The Bar Council (via its specifically-appointed task force) has been monitoring the process and canvassing the views of the profession to ensure the most advantageous future for everyone concerned.
The general feeling among barristers at the criminal Bar has been that there will be an inexorable drift towards much closer ties with forms of solicitors. The principal reasons for this are self-evident. It was thought that prosecution work would be increasingly handled by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) while most of the larger firms of criminal solicitors were organising themselves to bring much of their advocacy work in-house.
