9 Park Place Chambers make public access more widely available

Many more members of 9 Park Place Chambers are now able to offer public access having been approved by the Bar Council to accept instructions direct from members of the public and businesses to provide legal advice or representation in court.  

The public access scheme was introduced by the Bar Council in 2004 as part of a drive to open up the legal system to the public, initially in civil litigation. The scheme has now been extended to family and criminal law and  it allows the lay client to contract with a barrister directly for advice or representation in suitable cases, therefore removing the need for the appointment of a solicitor.  More than twenty members of chambers, across the practice teams, are now able to accept instructions under the scheme.

Gregg Taylor Q.C, Head of 9 Park Place Chambers explains: “Public access is designed to enable clients to get legal advice from a barrister without ever having to employ a solicitor. This means that clients only have to pay for one legal advisor rather than two, potentially producing significant costs savings while getting direct access to specialist legal advisors and advocates.”

“Public access is of particular benefit to businesses as they often have the resources and/or skills internally to provide the support to complete some of the work that a solicitor would normally do.”

For more information about the scheme and how it works please contact our senior clerk Michael Lieberman.