Direct access

At 4pb we have specialist direct access barristers available at all levels of seniority and expertise: from bright and well-trained newly qualified barristers, right the way up to senior KCs, and all levels in-between.

We can:

• Provide legal advice and opinions before and during proceedings. This can be done in a face-to-face or remote meeting (called a conference) or in writing.
• Draft legal documents, although we cannot send correspondence on your behalf or lodge documents with the court.
• Represent you at court, including at interim and final hearings
• Represent you in forms of non-court dispute resolution, including arbitrations, FDRs, early neutral evaluations and (where appropriate) we can also assist you in mediation.

If we think you could benefit from more support, we can also advise you about instructing a solicitor.

We cannot collate documents, file forms or court applications, send letters or engage otherwise with “conducting litigation”. That means that direct access instructions only work if you feel confident to undertake much of that work yourself.

We also cannot accept instructions on a direct access basis if you are in receipt of legal aid.

Direct access only works in appropriate cases and requires you to be confident about managing aspects of your case that might otherwise have been undertaken by a solicitor.

Direct Access Barristers are regulated by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board and have strict professional rules by which they abide, giving you the benefit of consumer protection and the backing of a professional conduct regime built up over centuries.

Only barristers who have achieved a specialist direct access qualification undertake this work. You can find a list of 4PB’s direct access qualified barristers below.

If you’d like more information about how a direct access barrister in family law could work with you directly, you can look at the public direct access page on the Bar Council’s website or the guidance notes prepared by the Bar Standards Board, by clicking the links.