What Does a Barrister Do?

A barrister is a specialist courtroom lawyer regulated by the Bar Standards Board. In England and Wales, barristers spend their careers doing three things: standing up in court to argue cases (advocacy), writing formal advice on the strengths and weaknesses of a case, and drafting the documents the court needs to see. That is the short answer to what a barrister does. The longer answer, and the one that actually matters if you are staring at a court hearing, is more useful — because the shape of a barrister's work is what determines whether you need one, when to instruct one, and how much it will cost.

Advocacy: representing you in court

The visible part of a barrister's job is advocacy. Barristers appear in the County Court, the Family Court, the High Court, the Crown Court, the Court of Appeal, the Employment Tribunal, the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, and every specialist tribunal in between. They open the case, examine witnesses, cross-examine the other side's witnesses, make legal submissions to the judge, and give a closing speech.

Barristers are trained specifically for this. Advocacy is a craft — pace, order, tone, the discipline of asking the right question and stopping at the right answer — and it is why a barrister is usually the person on their feet at a contested hearing. In criminal cases, a solicitor with higher rights of audience can appear in the Crown Court, but the majority of Crown Court trials, and almost every appeal, are conducted by barristers. In family finance, a Financial Dispute Resolution appointment or a final hearing is nearly always run by counsel. In civil litigation, the bigger the trial, the more likely a barrister is doing it.

Written advice: telling you what your case is really worth

The second thing a barrister does — and often the most valuable thing you will pay for — is written advice. A barrister will read your papers, identify the legal issues, apply the current law, and tell you, in writing, what your case looks like. That means realistic prospects of success, what the other side is likely to argue, what evidence you still need, what a court is likely to order on costs, and whether the case should settle.

Written advice is what a court, a solicitor, and often you yourself will rely on when deciding whether to fight or fold. It is also the piece of work most direct access clients underestimate. If you take one thing from a barrister early, take advice before you spend money on the wrong argument.

Drafting: the documents the court needs to see

The third strand is drafting. Barristers draft the formal court documents — particulars of claim, defences, witness statements, position statements, skeleton arguments, grounds of appeal, applications for interim relief, consent orders, and settlement agreements. These documents shape your case. A well-drafted position statement can move a judge before anyone speaks; a badly drafted one loses ground you cannot recover.

Drafting is where barristers spend more time than any client expects. Most of the work you cannot see happens here.

What a barrister does not do (usually)

Traditionally, barristers do not conduct litigation. Conducting litigation means being the party on the court record who files documents, corresponds with the court, and manages the case day to day. That is the solicitor's job. A barrister can only conduct litigation if they hold a separate authorisation from the Bar Standards Board — most do not.

For direct access clients, this matters. When you instruct a public access barrister without a solicitor, you remain the litigant in person on the record. The barrister advises, drafts, negotiates and represents you at hearings. You are still the person who sends things to the court. In practice this is much less onerous than it sounds — the barrister will tell you exactly what to file, when, and how — but it is the line that separates a barrister from a full-service solicitor.

The types of work barristers do

Barristers specialise. A commercial barrister does not do care proceedings. A family barrister does not do serious fraud. When you instruct counsel, you are instructing a specialist in that field:

• Family — divorce, financial remedy, child arrangements, prenuptial agreements
• Civil and commercial — contract, debt, shareholder disputes, construction, professional negligence
• Employment — unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing, tribunal advocacy
• Property and landlord and tenant — possession, TOLATA, boundary and easement disputes
• Immigration — appeals to the First-tier and Upper Tribunals, judicial review
• Criminal — Crown Court trials, appeals, sentencing
• Chancery, trusts and probate — inheritance disputes, Inheritance Act claims, trust disputes

How to instruct a barrister directly

You do not need a solicitor to instruct a barrister. Under the Bar Standards Board's Public Access scheme, any suitably trained barrister can accept instructions directly from a member of the public. That is what Clerk&Counsel does — we place direct access barristers on written fixed fees for clients who want specialist courtroom representation without paying for a solicitor to sit between them and counsel.

The process is short. Send us a summary of the matter and the key documents. A clerk will confirm suitability, shortlist counsel with the right expertise, and issue a client care letter setting out the scope of work and the fee in writing. Once you accept, the barrister begins work — advising, drafting or representing you as agreed.

When it makes sense to use a barrister

You need a barrister when you have a hearing, when you need a written opinion you can rely on, or when a document has to be drafted properly the first time. You need one earlier than most people think. Advice before proceedings are issued is almost always cheaper than advice after they go wrong.

If you have a matter coming up, send us a brief. A clerk will respond with shortlisted direct access counsel and a written fixed fee, usually within 24 to 72 hours.