Helplines
The Bar Council provides a confidential Ethical Enquiries Service to assist barristers (and, where appropriate, their clerks and other staff connected with barristers' professional practices) to identify, interpret and comply with their professional obligations under the BSB Handbook. Please note: this service does not give legal advice.
Call the Ethical Enquiries line on 020 7611 1307
Lines are open 09:15-17:15 Monday-Friday
Email Ethics@BarCouncil.org.uk
You will receive a response within four working days.
The Bar Council also publishes documents on its Ethics & Practice Hub which is intended to assist barristers on matters of conduct and ethics in particular types of situation.
Please note the limitations of the service as set out below.
Where possible, the Bar Council encourages members of the Bar to talk ethical issues through with peers and senior practitioners before using the service.
The Ethical Enquiries Service is a confidential service. All information provided by you through this service, all oral and written responses which the Bar Council gives to ethical enquiries, and any assistance which it gives in or in relation to such enquiries, will be kept confidential to the Ethics Committee, ethical advisors and all those connected with providing the service. This is subject only to your consent and to such qualifications as may be provided for by law.
Those wishing to report serious misconduct, including suspected money laundering or terrorist financing, must do so to the BSB and not to the Ethical Enquiries Service. Under rC68.4 in the BSB Handbook, members of the Bar who become aware of serious misconduct as a result of their work on the Ethical Enquiries Service are specifically exempted from the obligation to report it to the BSB.
Under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as the Supervisory Authority for the Bar of England and Wales where the General Council of the Bar knows or suspects, or has reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting, that a person is or has engaged in money laundering or terrorist financing, it is obliged to provide that information to the National Crime Agency. In these circumstances it may therefore not be possible to maintain the confidentiality of the enquiry. This obligation is distinct from the obligations to report serious misconduct under rC66 of the Handbook, to which the exemption for the Ethical Enquiries Service at rC68.4 applies.
We retain written queries and our responses for no more than 18 months, and you can see the Bar Council privacy statement in full here.
Assistance provided through this service is not "guidance" for the purposes of the BSB Handbook I6.4.
This service is overseen by the Bar Council's Ethics Committee and is not provided by the BSB; neither the BSB, Legal Ombudsman nor a Disciplinary Tribunal will be bound by any views expressed in response to enquiries.
Barristers are reminded that they are at all times responsible personally for their professional conduct, ethics and decisions (rC20). Whilst the Bar Council aims to guide and assist, you must reach your own conclusion on what your professional obligations and ethics require of you in any particular situation.
Responses to enquiries are given in good faith (as is any advice given in or in relation to such responses), based on the information supplied by you, but neither the Bar Council nor any individual responsible for or involved in responding to any enquiry or giving any assistance accepts any responsibility or liability for any action taken in reliance on it, and it does not consist of – nor can it be relied on as giving – legal advice.
Barristers are reminded that they are at all times responsible personally for their professional conduct, ethics and decisions. Whilst the Bar Council aims to guide and assist, you must reach your own conclusion on what your professional obligations and ethics require of you in any particular situation.
In the event of a complaint against you, however, you may find it easier to explain your actions if you have consulted relevant documents published by the Bar Council and/or contacted the Ethical Enquiries Service, and if you can show how, in deciding what course of action to take, you have taken into account the content of those documents and any views or advice received. In particular, the BSB or Legal Ombudsman may regard it as relevant in deciding what, if any, action to take against you in the event of a complaint; and either the BSB, the Legal Ombudsman or a disciplinary tribunal may regard it as relevant to whether you have breached your professional obligations, and may take it into account in mitigation of any penalty or other consequences.
If you wish to be able to refer to any oral response to an ethical enquiry then the onus is on you to take a note of that response and to have that note confirmed by the person on the Ethical Enquiries Service who gave it. Please note that we do not record calls made to the ethical enquiries service.
If a response is given to you in writing, then the Bar Council will retain a copy of that response and the original query for no more than 18 months.
If you wish to refer to an oral or written response, or to any advice given in or in relation to it, then the identity of the person who provided it may not be disclosed without the prior consent of that person or the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, except in the following situation: you may disclose their identity when responding to a complaint made to the Bar Standards Board or the Legal Ombudsman.
The Bar Council offers a confidential equality and diversity helpline to all pupils and members of the Bar.
Call the Equality and Diversity helpline on 020 7611 1426
Our team can provide assistance on the following topics:
For individuals, we can provide confidential support and advice to members of the profession, staff and members of chambers, employed barristers, pupils and Bar students about any equality and diversity, parental leave or bullying and harassment issue.
For chambers, we can provide advice on:
- Implementing all aspects of the Equality and Diversity Rules in the BSB Handbook
- Making reasonable adjustments and making chambers and services accessible to people with disabilities
- Handling complaints and supporting members and staff
What happens when you call the line:
If you call this number you will be put through to a member of the Bar Council's Equality and Diversity team, they are responsible for equality and diversity issues including sexual harassment at the Bar. At no point will you be required to give your name or the name of your chambers. Whoever you speak to will be able to provide advice and support on what you should do next, but you will not be required to do anything, you can simply discuss your options.
If you would like additional support, you will be put in touch with a member of our Equality, Diversity and Social Mobility Committee. You will be told the name of the person you are being put in touch with first, and you can ask to speak to someone else if you wish (we make sure you have a choice so you don't have to speak to someone you know or someone from your chambers).
Any barrister member of the committee you speak to has a special exemption from BSB reporting requirements and is able to provide advice without being required to report the incident to the BSB.
Please note that we are unable to provide legal advice.
The Pupils' Helpline gives confidential advice and support to members of the Bar who are currently undertaking their pupillage by putting them in touch with an experienced and independent barrister who can help with problems encountered during pupillage.
To access the helpline, call 020 7611 1415 or email pupilhelpline@barcouncil.org.uk.
For this reason, the Bar Council has established a panel of advisers to offer pupils a confidential and objective advice service. All of the advisers are barristers of at least five years' call who have received training from the Bar Council. Contact can be made, anonymously if wished, by email or telephone.
The Bar Council will put pupils who wish to discuss a problem in confidence in contact with an appropriate adviser.
The online tool for the Bar to confidentially report inappropriate behaviour
There is no place for bullying, harassment or discrimination at the Bar, and yet many incidents still go unreported and unchallenged. To address this problem, the Bar Council is working with Spot, an online tool for confidentially reporting instances of bullying, harassment and discrimination, to give the profession a secure, constructive process for dealing with such behaviour. The Spot tool allows you to record and (if required) report inappropriate behaviour, bullying, harassment and discrimination.