YBC urges advocates to “be the best”

The Young Barristers' Committee (YBC) is hosting its annual conference on Saturday 6 October, focusing on the need for young barristers and pupils to develop excellent advocacy skills.

The YBC, which represents young barristers in England and Wales, is hoping to bring together pupils and barristers of less than 10 years' call at the conference to discuss how they can improve their skills, particularly in terms of offering "the very highest standards of advocacy to survive and thrive as a profession despite the austerity of government cuts and severe restrictions on access to justice".

The day - entitled "Advocates: be the best" - will include keynote speeches from well- known practitioners Sir Sydney Kentridge QC, Geoffrey Robertson QC and Michael Todd QC (current chairman of the Bar Council).

David Nicholls of 11 Stone Buildings, the current YBC chair, said: "For many young barristers, particularly those working in publicly-funded areas, it is becoming ever more difficult to forge a successful career at the Bar. The challenges facing the wider Bar are felt more acutely by the young Bar, who do not yet have the established practices of their peers. With less work available and repeated cuts to publicly-funded fees, it has never been more important for us, as young barristers, to emphasise our skills and expertise as advocates, to remind our clients, the government and the wider public that we are the best lawyers for specialist advocacy and advice."