Why brief a barrister

On accepting a brief directly from a client, a barrister has an obligation to inform his or her client as to whether or not the case may require the involvement of a solicitor. Under the cab-rank principle, barristers must generally accept any brief brought to them by a solicitor that is within their area of expertise. Whilst barristers are bound to represent all clients regardless of their own personal opinion of the matter, they are not obliged to accept briefs directly from clients.

The right to appear on behalf of another person in a court or tribunal is not automatic. Where there is doubt about relevance, material should be provided rather than omitted. It is much easier for a barrister to ignore material than to begin reading a brief only to discover that material that should be there is missing. If material is missing the barrister must ask for further information or documents. This is time wasting and inefficient and may create unnecessary delay in the progress of the case.

In any case that might go to court, whether a barrister has been briefed or not, at the earliest possible stage the solicitor should prepare a brief. The brief should include documents that identify the issues in dispute, documents and items that are relevant to prove or disprove the issues in dispute and likely to be used at trial, and the court documents or correspondence that might be used at trial or in settlement negotiations.

Several of our barristers have undertaken formal training in ADR and can act as arbitrators or mediators. All can be briefed to appear to act on behalf of clients at mediations and arbitrations. This rule obliges barristers to accept any work in a field in which they hold themselves out as having competence to practise.

In-house counsel who are interested in briefing our barristers should contact our Clerk. Not all barristers at Frederick Jordan Chambers accept Direct Client Access Briefs and there is no obligation placed on a barrister to accept such brief.

There are rules which outline what work can be done by a barrister where a Direct Client Access Brief is accepted and what disclosure must be first made to a direct access client prior to the acceptance of such brief.

For more information about which of our barristers accept Direct Client Access Briefs, and the requirements for briefing a barrister in these circumstances, please contact our Clerk. Who should you brief? For example, where you require tax advice on a legal question, your barrister may depending on the circumstances ask you to provide the following types of documents and information: questions upon which you require legal advice timeframes for the provision of that advice identity of all parties involved in the subject matter of the advice chronology of key events, and key correspondence, contracts and other documents.

For this reason, it is useful to also inform them about: your purpose for engaging in relevant activities, and any commercial issues likely to influence your preferred approach.

Brief clearly : Precisely communicating what you want from your barrister and when, how and why you want it will provide you with the best outcome. Brief orderly : Where you need to provide lots of documents, speak to your barrister about the form and categorisation in which they prefer to receive, store and use them.

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