Who we are
Clerk&Counsel was founded by people who believed instructing the Bar should feel as quiet and capable as instructing any other specialist. We sit between clients, solicitors, chambers and barristers — and we run on software, not biscuits and ledgers. We are not a barristers' chambers and we are not a firm of solicitors. We are a clerking agency: a modern back office for the independent Bar and an honest intake desk for the people who need to instruct it.
Clerk&Counsel is an intermediary and clerking service. We do not provide legal advice or legal representation. Barristers instructed through us are independent legal professionals and are responsible for the legal services they provide. We verify the regulatory status relevant to each proposed instruction, including Bar Standards Board registration where applicable.
Our fees
It is free to submit an enquiry. If you choose to instruct a barrister through us, a Clerk&Counsel service fee of up to £150 will apply depending on urgency. We show this separately from counsel's professional fee before you decide whether to proceed.
The service fee covers the administrative work involved in receiving and reviewing your enquiry, identifying potentially suitable counsel, checking availability, coordinating initial conflict checks, obtaining and presenting fee quotes, handling documents and arranging the instruction. It is not a fee for legal advice or representation from Clerk&Counsel.
Panel barristers may separately pay Clerk&Counsel for clerking and administrative services provided to them. Those arrangements are separate from the service fee payable by a client and from counsel's professional fee.
Client terms, cancellation & privacy
Before you commit to an instruction, we will provide the applicable client terms and a written fee breakdown. Those terms explain your contract with Clerk&Counsel, the barrister's separate professional responsibilities, payment arrangements and any instruction-specific conditions.
For consumers contracting online, the applicable cancellation and refund position will be explained before instruction. Any refund may depend on when cancellation occurs and whether administrative or professional work has already begun. We will not ask work to begin during any applicable cancellation period without the agreement required by the client terms.
We handle personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Our use of cookies and your choices are explained in our Cookie Policy.
Barrister support services
Our core offer to individual barristers and small sets is a full outsourced clerking and barrister support service. We bring the work and run the back office on a single, transparent percentage — no annual subscription, no rent, no hidden marketing levy. In practice, that means:
- Virtual clerking & diary management — first point of contact for clients and solicitors, listings, hearings, conferences.
- Fee negotiation & billing — fixed fees, brief fees, hourly rates, aged-debt chasing, fee-note production.
- New-business generation — qualified instructions delivered to your inbox, sourced through our website, SEO and direct relationships with solicitors.
- Marketing & profile — practice page, written content, schema-marked-up profile that ranks in Google.
- Compliance & conflict checks — engagement letters, conflict screening, AML where applicable.
- Chambers support services — for small sets that want clerking capacity without expanding the room.
See For Barristers for the full clerking proposition and fee model.
Law firm support services
For solicitors and in-house legal teams, Clerk&Counsel is a counsel-sourcing partner. One call, one email or one form — and we identify the right BSB-registered barrister for the matter, confirm availability, agree the fee and return a written quote. No ringing round chambers, no waiting for senior clerks to call back.
- Counsel sourced by practice area, seniority and fee envelope.
- Transparent fixed fees, agreed in writing before instruction.
- Brief delivery, engagement paperwork and post-hearing housekeeping handled by us.
- Coverage across commercial, construction (TCC), family and direct-access work.
More on the solicitor-facing service at For Solicitors.
How to find a barrister
People ask us this every week, so here is the honest version. To find a barrister in the UK, you need four things settled before you instruct:
- The practice area. Commercial, construction, family, employment, crime — the Bar is highly specialised, and the right counsel for a TCC adjudication is the wrong counsel for a children matter.
- The seniority. Junior, senior junior, or KC — driven by complexity, value and the opposing party's choice.
- The fee model. Fixed fee for discrete pieces (advice, drafting, single hearings) or brief fee plus refreshers for longer trials.
- The route. Direct (you instruct counsel yourself under Public Access) or via your solicitor.
Rather than browsing a barrister directory and cold-emailing chambers, you can brief us in two minutes — we'll come back with named counsel, written fees and a clear next step. That's the cleanest way to instruct a barrister if you've never done it before.
Direct access vs solicitor-instructed
If you don't already have a solicitor, the Direct Access (or Public Access) scheme lets you instruct a Public-Access-qualified barrister directly — for advice, drafting, conferences and most advocacy. It's typically faster and more cost-effective than the two-tier model. See our Direct Access Barristers hub and the city-specific pages for London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Kent.
If your matter is genuinely complex — heavy disclosure, ongoing case management, court bundles — we'll tell you, candidly, that a solicitor should be on the record first. The clerk's job is to route the work properly, not to take every instruction that comes in.
Regulation, structure & company
Clerk&Counsel is a trading style of Found First Digital Ltd, registered in England. Our office is at 4 Bark Street East, Bolton BL1 2BQ. We are an unregulated intermediary providing clerking and barrister support services. Panel barristers are independent practitioners. We verify their regulatory status for each proposed instruction, including Bar Standards Board registration, practising status and appropriate insurance where applicable.
