The three-month pilot, which is due to be launched in April 2008, will see the BSB monitor barristers’ chambers to test the effectiveness of its procedures for gathering and assessing information on compliance with the code.
Approximately 35 chambers across the
The initiative will be a forerunner to the new Quality Assurance Scheme, which is set to be rolled out across the profession in 2010.
Commenting on the launch of the pilot, BSB chair Ruth Evans said: “It is essential that we are able to show systematically that chambers are in compliance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct and to have procedures in place to raise standards. Disciplinary action to enforce compliance should be a last resort.”
She added: “We are keen to work with the profession on the development of our quality assurance framework to ensure that our approach is not over-burdensome but, at the same, is proportionate to the risk of non-compliance and sufficiently robust to carry the confidence of consumers.”
