‘Beaumont on Barristers – A Guide to Defending Disciplinary Proceedings (Second Edition)’ by Marc Beaumont

Description

This is the second edition of the popular ‘Beaumont on Barristers – A Guide to Defending Disciplinary Proceedings’, which remains the only publication to examine professional disciplinary proceedings against barristers from the perspective of the defence.  It is a significant, learned, but also user-friendly addition to the library of those involved in such proceedings, whether as advisers, advocates, BTAS tribunal members, appeal judges or protagonists.  This second edition covers significant case-law in the period 2020 to June 2024 and contains a new chapter on investigations within Barristers’ Chambers.

Since 2006, the investigation and prosecution of barristers, has been undertaken by a body independent of the Bar Council – the Bar Standards Board.  By the Legal Services Act 2007, the Bar Council (and so the BSB) gained statutory legitimacy as the regulator of barristers. Since then, there has been an unprecedented growth in litigation involving the BSB. The replacement of the Visitors to the Inns of Court with a right of appeal to the High Court by the Crime and Courts Act 2013, has led to a series of important High Court judgments.

The author begins by describing the traumatic and disruptive effect of disciplinary proceedings. He advises on the best approaches to a BSB investigation and examines the concept of ‘professional misconduct’ and the regulatory scheme. There is a seasoned advocate’s deconstruction of disciplinary trial preparation and conduct. The approach to sanctions is given distinct treatment, before a unique chapter on ‘Barristers and Human Rights’, examining the impact of ECHR Articles, 6, 8 and 10 on barrister discipline, including on social media and private life.  Other chapters cover costs, disposal by consent, appeals to the Administrative Court, defending complaints made to the Legal Ombudsman and a new chapter on investigations within Chambers.  The final chapter, now a lesson from history, charts the effective collapse of the Bar’s system of discipline, leading to the creation of the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service from 2014.

This highly original book, which draws on unreported case law, takes an area of law that is misunderstood and stigmatised and elevates it to the level of a respectable legal specialism, whilst being both the reader’s friend and guide.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marc Beaumont has practised at the Bar of England and Wales for 39 years. He specialises in professional disciplinary law, defending barristers, solicitors, surveyors and other professionals against investigations and prosecutions brought by their regulators. In the barrister field, Marc acts for silks, senior juniors and younger barristers, including pupils and students.  He has conducted, appeared in or advised in a number of leading and significant cases against the Bar Standards Board including,  Rich v Bar Standards Board [2012] EWCA Civ 320 and all ten associated cases, O’Connor v Bar Standards Board (2012) Visitors, unrep., all of the appeals and judicial review applications culminating in Regina (Russell) v Bar Standards Board [2014] EWCA Civ 1630, Smith v Bar Standards Board [2016] EWHC 3015, Howd v Bar Standards Board [2017] 4 WLR 54, Khan v Bar Standards Board [2018] EWHC 2184 and Farquharson v Bar Standards Board [2022] EWHC 1128 (Admin), as well as Regina (Kaur) v Institute of Legal Executives [2012] 1 All ER 1435, which extended Re P, a barrister [2005] 1 WLR 3019 (in which he appeared at trial).  He has often been the draftsman of legal submissions, or adviser, in cases that do not disclose his full role, both in the UK and overseas. Marc’s unique commitment to this work, his tenacity and his skill as an advocate, received national recognition otherwise hitherto withheld from a litigation adversary of the BSB, when the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme described him as “the Barrister’s Barrister“. Marc was the architect of the blueprint for the Bar’s Public Access scheme, which has dovetailed with this area of work to enable professionals to instruct barristers directly in disciplinary cases without incurring the cost of solicitors. Marc invented the Barristers’ Complaints Advisory Service in the mid-1990s. Marc has a busy Chancery/Commercial practice and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

REVIEWS & TESTIMONIALS FOR THE SECOND EDITION

“Every chambers should have a copy. And all wise barristers should have access to a copy — either by knowing where the chambers copy is kept, or by having their own… Marc Beaumont has unparalleled experience in this field, and shares it in this invaluable book.”
– Anthony Speaight KC, 4 Pump Court

“Marc Beaumont can justifiably claim the title of being the barrister’s barrister. Having probably defended more barristers in disciplinary proceedings than any other practitioner, he is ideally placed to pass on the knowledge and insights he has gained over the years.”
– Review by Gregory Treverton-Jones QC in The Law Society Gazette, 27 September 2024 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

REVIEWS & TESTIMONIALS FOR THE FIRST EDITION

“The book will be an invaluable resource for barristers facing disciplinary proceedings, and for those who represent them.”
– Law Society Gazette review by Gregory Treverton-Jones KC

“There is occasionally a book published on a subject, on which there has been no book previously, but on which, as soon as one sees from the book the scope and importance of its subject, one is amazed that there has never previously been a book … This book is a veritable goldmine. Without exception every chambers library needs a copy, in case a member suddenly is subject to a professional complaint. And I shall certainly have my copy at my side if I am again acting in a barrister disciplinary case.”
– Anthony Speaight KC, 4 Pump Court

“Marc Beaumont certainly hits the pressure points with his excellent new book … will not help him make friends and influence people in some quarters but will be of great assistance to the Defendant.”
– Phillip Taylor MBE

CONTENTS

Chapter One – The Effect of Disciplinary Proceedings
Chapter Two– Investigating Barristers – Traps and Tips
Chapter Three – What is Professional Misconduct?
Chapter Four – The Conduct Standards
Chapter Five – Trial Preparation and Conduct
Chapter Six – Sanctions
Chapter Seven – Barristers and Human Rights
Chapter Eight – Costs in Disciplinary Cases
Chapter Nine – Consent Orders
Chapter Ten – Appeals
Chapter Eleven – The Legal Ombudsman
Chapter Twelve – Discipline in Chambers
Chapter Thirteen – How Barrister Self-Regulation Failed