Some 13 barristers were disbarred in the past year for bad behaviour, according to the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB’s) Enforcement Annual Report.
The BSB was given powers last year to issue warnings and fines directly to non-compliant barristers, leaving the most serious cases to the tribunal panels. Consequently, disbarment has become the most common sanction imposed by tribunal panels.
The annual report revealed that staff turnover had led to delays at the early stage of processing cases and the professional conduct department had dealt with 69% of cases within the required time slot rather than its target 80%.
Despite this, the report pointed out that disciplinary cases were being dealt with more speedily than in previous years.
In all, 297 complaints were raised by members of the public, lay clients and other legal professionals—a similar figure to previous years.
Internal complaints, on the other hand, which are those the BSB becomes aware of by itself, rose by one third to 144 in the past year.
