The Bar Council has furloughed 20% of its staff and introduced cuts to spending in a bid to support the profession during the coronavirus crisis.

The Bar Council has warned that the government's plans to introduce competitive tendering for legal aid contracts and deny defendants the right to choose a lawyer will undermine the UK justice system's good reputation among the international community.

The Bar Council has revamped its online careers section to make it more useful for students and anyone else hoping to join the barristers’ profession.

Chambers have been issued new guidance by the Bar Council in a move to ensure that any sexual harassment complaints are dealt with properly.

One year after launching its Wellbeing at the Bar online resource, the Bar Council is introducing a certification system for chambers, inns of court and other organisations which adopt mental health and wellbeing policies. 

The Bar Council represents almost 18,000 barristers in England and Wales.

Social mobility advocates, a new group of barristers from across England and Wales, have joined the Bar Council’s award-winning social mobility campaign – #IAmTheBar.

Last week, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) welcomed the publication of the Bar Council’s Pupillage Gateway report.

The Bar Council has published its new guide on barristers’ shared parental leave, in which it urges chambers to do more than the bare minimum required to support tenants who become parents or carers. 

A report funded by the Bar Council has strongly criticised the trend of legal executive advocates and solicitor-advocates.

With people in the Midlands and the North of England in “dire need of early legal advice”, the Bar Council has called for the government to invest in local court systems ahead of today’s spending review.

The Bar Council has responded to the Bar Standards Board’s new policy statement on pupillage, work-based learning and qualification.

Following on from publication last week of the Lammy Report on racial bias in the British criminal justice system, the chair of the Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity and Social Mobility Committee has responded by saying that report makes an important contribution to the “urgent task of securing a fair and equal criminal justice system”.

According to the new report by Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC), “45% of the Young Bar reported a negative impact on their financial situation, higher still at 60% for those working in crime – as court work ceased in 2020, their earnings plummeted.”

The Bar Council recently ran a week of events for sixth form students, designed to promote better access to the profession.

The Bar Council has partnered with tech company Spot to launch an anti-harassment and bullying tool for barristers to anonymously report inappropriate behaviour.

After announcing that the opening date of the Pupillage Gateway application system would be moved from April to January from 2016 onwards, the Bar Council has now U-turned to say that the current timetable will remain in place (with applications being made in April and offers being sent out in August) until further notice.

The Bar Council has said it is “disappointed” in the Bar Standard Board’s decision to scrap the Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT) because it “no longer […] serves a useful purpose” without making sure there are alternatives in place.

The Bar Council, the body that represents around 18,000 barristers in England and Wales, has several committees; one of which is the Young Barristers’ Committee.