A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the law and giving legal opinions.
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, government lawyer, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, legal executive, or public servant — with each role having different functions and privileges. Working as a lawyer generally involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and knowledge to solve specific problems. Some lawyers also work primarily in advancing the interests of the law and legal profession.
In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel is a senior trial lawyer appointed by the monarch of the country as a 'Counsel learned in the law'.
Pro bono publico, usually shortened to pro bono, is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them.
Alexander Charles Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew, is a British barrister and crossbench member of the House of Lords. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire from 1983 to 1997.
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States.
A McKenzie friend assists a litigant in person in a court of law in England and Wales, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and Australia by prompting, taking notes, and quietly giving advice. They need not be legally trained or have any professional legal qualifications.
Sir Charles Geoffrey Cox is a British Conservative Party politician and barrister serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Torridge and West Devon since the 2005 general election. Cox worked as a barrister from 1982 onwards and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2003, two years before his election to Parliament. He served as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland under Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020.
Kenneth Donald John Macdonald, Baron Macdonald of River Glaven, is a British lawyer and politician who served as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of England and Wales from 2003 to 2008. In that office he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service. He was previously a Recorder and defence barrister. He is a life peer in the House of Lords, where he sits as a crossbencher and was previously a Liberal Democrat. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford until 2021.
The General Council of the Bar, commonly known as the Bar Council, is the representative body for barristers in England and Wales. Established in 1894, the Bar Council is the 'approved regulator' of barristers, but discharges its regulatory function to the independent Bar Standards Board. As the lead representative body for barristers in England and Wales, the Bar Council’s work is devoted to ensuring the Bar’s voice is heard, efficiently and effectively, and with the interests of the Bar as its focus.
Dinah Gwen Lison Rose KC is a British barrister. She has been President of Magdalen College, Oxford since 2020. A member of Blackstone Chambers, she was named Barrister of the Year in The Lawyer Awards 2009. In 2016, she was appointed a Deputy Judge of the High Court.
Edward Hamilton Fitzgerald is a British barrister who specialises in criminal law, public law, and international human rights law. His work against the death penalty has led him to represent criminals such as: Myra Hindley, Mary Bell, Maxine Carr, various IRA prisoners, and Abu Hamza. Fitzgerald is currently the joint head of Doughty Street Chambers.
The legal services sector of the United Kingdom is a significant part of the national economy; it had a total output of £22.6 billion in 2013, up from 10.6 billion in 2001, and is equivalent to 1.6% of the country's gross domestic product for that year. The sector has a trade surplus is £3.1 billion in 2013 and directly employees 316,000 people, two-thirds of whom are located outside London. The UK is the world's most international market for legal services. It allows virtually unrestricted access for foreign firms, resulting in over 200 foreign law firms with offices in London and other cities in the UK. Around half of these are US firms, with the remainder mainly from Europe, Australia and Canada. The UK legal market has a strong global position due to the popularity of English law. Some 27% of the world's 320 legal jurisdictions use English Common law.
Sir Stephen John Irwin, is a retired British judge and barrister. From September 2016 until October 2020, he was a Lord Justice of Appeal. From May 2006 to 2016, he served as a judge of the High Court of England and Wales.
Dame Siobhan Roisin Keegan is a Northern Irish judge who has been Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland since September 2021. She was formerly a judge of the High Court of Northern Ireland from October 2015 until her appointment as Lord Chief Justice, prior to which, she practised as a barrister specialising in family law.
Leslie Thomas KC is a British barrister and law professor. He has acted on a number of high-profile death cases and inquests, and is noted as a "star individual" for Police Law (Claimant) work in Chambers and Partners with specialist expertise in cases of death in custody and death at the hands of the police.
Jolyon Toby Dennis Maugham is a British barrister. Initially a practitioner in contentious taxation law, he stepped away in order to act as the founder and director of the Good Law Project, through which he has played a role in bringing to court a number of legal challenges to the Brexit process, which he opposed. He has written on Brexit and legal issues for publications such as The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and the New Statesman.
Dame Nathalie Marie Daniella Lieven,, , known as Mrs Justice Lieven, is a Justice of the High Court of England and Wales assigned to the Family Division.
On 14 March 2022, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) in England and Wales voted to undertake industrial action protesting against stagnant fees with 94% of criminal barristers in favour. The industrial action consisted of refusal to accept returns—substitution of a new barrister, often at the last minute, when another of them is unavailable to make a trial date—in Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS) -funded cases in the Crown Court. The action began on 11 April 2022. Almost 2,500 people are participating in the action. The CBA did not consider the initial action a strike because its members are under no obligation to accept returns, which it calls "a gesture of goodwill to prop up the criminal justice system". Two months later, in June 2022, barristers began an open-ended strike every other week based on a CBA ballot in late May. In October 2022, during the premiership of Liz Truss, barristers voted to end the strike following a deal with then-Secretary of State for Justice, Brandon Lewis.
Sir Stephen John Arthur Eyre, styled Mr Justice Eyre, is a British High Court judge.
British
