PUBLIC ACCESS TO BARRISTERS AT 5 PUMP COURT CHAMBERS
The rules governing Public Access to Barristers have changed. Members of the public may now go directly to a barrister. The existing Licensed Public Access scheme gives direct access to Barristers to professional clients such as chartered accountants and surveyors. 5 Pump Court presently has 10 barristers qualified for Public Access cases (as set out below). Further details of this scheme may be found on the Bar Council website (http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/about/find-a-barrister/public-access-directory/). The Public Access scheme extends this and the following barristers within Chambers are qualified to provide this service:
Michael Collard
Norman Primost
Ivan Clarke
Juliet Oliver
Peter Gray
Simon O'Toole
Paul Addison
Andrew Jackson
Jack Nicholls
Imran Mahmood
Nathan Palmer
James Newman
Rebecca Foulkes
Chris Mitropoulos
Zarah Dickinson
Sajjad Nabi
All of our public access barristers have practised for at least 3 years following the completion of training and have all attended a public access training course approved by the Bar Council. Our Barristers may also be found by searching the Bar Council Public Access database (www.barcouncil.org.uk/about/find-a-barrister/public-access-directory). Details of our Public Access barristers specialist services can be found on the members’ area of our chambers website (www.5pumpcourt.com).
The services a Public Access Barrister from 5 Pump Court Chambers can provide for you.
As you can see from our website, 5 Pump Court Chambers is a traditional common law set of Barristers who undertake a wide range of work. Public Access is permitted in most areas of the law. Barristers in our Public Access Group can currently provide the following services for you:-
a) legal advice;
b) drafting documents for you, such as a will;
c) advise on the formal steps which need to be taken in proceedings before a court or other organisation and draft formal documents for use in those proceedings;
d) drafting a letter for you to send to another person;
e) preparation of a witness statement based on information a potential witness gives to the Barrister;
f) advice on the choice of a suitable expert, and drafting a letter of instruction which you can then send to the expert on your own notepaper;
Barristers dealing with Public Access cases are not allowed to do certain work, including:-
a) issuing proceedings on your behalf, issuing other applications or taking other formal steps in court or other proceedings;
b) using the Barrister’s notepaper to send letters on your behalf, or signing or sending letters on your behalf;
c) investigating or collecting evidence for use in proceedings;
d) instructing an expert witness on your behalf;
e) taking responsibility for the handling of your affairs or for the general management of your case, or handling your money.
As you are instructing the Public Access Barrister without a solicitor you must be sure that you can do whatever the Barrister is not allowed to do, or that you have made an arrangement with another person of suitable competence and experience to provide such services for you. It is also the duty of the Barrister to assess this issue and the Barrister may refuse to take instructions under the public access scheme if they consider it is in your best interests to involve a solicitor in your case. The details of the Code of Practice governing the work a Barrister may do under public access can be found on the Bar Council Website http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/assets/documents/Public%20Access%20Guidance%20for%20Lay%20Clients%20-%20March%202010.doc
The basis on which Public Access Barristers carry out professional work
The Public Access Barrister is the only person you are instructing and will personally do all the work needed under the arrangement. Barristers are sole practitioners even though they practise with other barristers from a set of Chambers.
Circumstances when the Barrister may not be able to act for you.
In all professional work the Barrister must strictly adhere to the Bar Code of Conduct. As a result, if the Barrister considers that a solicitor needs to be instructed in your own interests or for some other professional reason, the Barrister will no longer be able to act for you other than on the instructions of a solicitor. If the Barrister foresees this situation arising they will give you as much notice as possible. The Barrister may also advise that you should see a solicitor to attempt to obtain public funding, or if you have access to legal expenses insurance or funding of your claim on the basis of a conditional fee arrangement. As Barristers are bound to carry out all their work professionally, there will be times that a Barrister may not available to you. For example, if the Barrister is in court for a day or several days in a row, they may be totally unavailable to all other clients at that time.
Fees
Barristers will charge either a fixed fee for a piece of work or an hourly rate depending on the nature of the work. If the Barrister agrees to accept you as a Public Access client you will enter into a contract with that Barrister setting out precisely what work will be done, the fees for the work, the time it will take, and any deadlines. A Barrister usually charges according to their level of experience, the complexity of the case and the length of time involved in dealing with it. The cost to you, and the time at which the fee becomes payable, is a matter for you to agree with the Barrister. Where the fee relates to a hearing, the Barrister is normally entitled to the fee, whether or not the hearing goes ahead, though you may be able to agree a different basis for payment of the fee in such a case. In other cases, such as for a conference or for paperwork, we will try to fix a fee in advance for the work. Where it is not possible, you will be given an estimate. We may also be able to agree that there should be a “ceiling” on the fee charged for a particular piece of work. If you agree a fee in advance of the work being done, the Barrister will require that fee to be paid before carrying out the work. Where a fee is not fixed in advance and the work involves the production of paperwork (for example, the drafting of a contract), the Barrister will require you to pay for the work before it is released it to you. If when finding out more about the case the Barrister considers the work that is proposed will take longer than the time agreed the Barrister will contact you to arrange an amendment of the contract.
Under this contract/agreement, you are responsible for paying the public access Barrister’s fees. If you owe the Barrister any fees and do not pay them for more than three months after you are supplied with an invoice or fee note, interest will be payable at 2% above Barclays Bank base rate from 28 days of the date of the fee note.
Documents
Under the Public Access scheme the Barrister is entitled to keep copies of any documents you provide but will return all your original documents to you when the Barrister has completed the agreed work. The Barrister will prefer you to provide copies rather than originals, but if this is not possible, the Barrister may make a reasonable charge for photocopying.
General obligations
The information which you give the Barrister is received in professional confidence. The only exception is that statutory and other legal requirements may cause the Barrister to disclose information which the Barrister receives from you to governmental or other regulatory authorities. The Barrister will not do so without first obtaining your consent to such disclosure or telling you that they have made it.
The contract made between you and the Barrister will be governed by English Law, and any dispute will be subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts.
Complaints
We hope you will be happy with the professional services our Barristers may provide. However, if you are not satisfied you should first refer the matter to the Chambers in line with the Chambers’ complaints procedure. If you would like a copy of the complaints procedure please contact the Barrister’s clerks.
Contact
If you are interested in engaging one of our Barristers who is qualified to provide services via the Public Access Scheme please contact our Senior Clerk Tim Markham and tell him that you wish to instruct the Barrister directly. Please describe the nature of the work which you wish the Barrister to undertake. He will tell you what to do next. Either he will ask you to send written instructions (setting out the factual background to your case and what it is that you want the barrister to do, or the public access barrister may decide that it would be appropriate in the first instance briefly to discuss the matter with you on the telephone or at a preliminary meeting to decide on the best way forward.
If you do decide to instruct one of our Barristers under the public access scheme they will require copies of two forms of official identification, for example a driving licence and a recent utility bill or formal identification document identifying residence at an address in the UK. If you are acting on behalf of a company, you will be required to produce a certified copy of Certificate of Incorporation, the latest accounts filed at Companies House and evidence that you are authorised to act on behalf of the company.
If you have any questions about any of the above, please contact our Senior Clerk Tim Markham by telephone on 020 7353 2532 or by e-mail at timmarkham@5Pumpcourt.com