Banking and finance is a global industry involving a wide variety of financial products, ranging from simple bank loans to companies, to highly structured financing arrangements across multiple jurisdictions.

In his speech to the annual Bar Council conference on 10 November, Bar Council Chair Michael Todd QC lashed out at the over-arching regulatory body.

The Bar Council has extended its outreach programme, the Bar Placement Week, to Liverpool. It has been running in London for eight years, as well as in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Leeds for shorter periods.

The Bar Council is this week hosting the Bar Placement Scheme in conjunction with the Social Mobility Foundation.

A greater level of training for advocates in relation to the questioning of vulnerable witnesses in court is to be introduced in a joint initiative launched by the Bar Council, the Inns of Court, the Law Society, and the CPS.

The Bar Council and Law Society yesterday issued a joint statement criticising Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comments on the legal challenges brought against the government for their plans to send asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda.

The Bar Council has confirmed that the Bar Placement Week, launched seven years ago in London, has been introduced in Leeds and Manchester for the first time.

The Bar Council, which represents all practising barristers in England and Wales, announced new measures to help domestic abuse victims in family and civil courts. 

The Bar Council has come out in support of a new barrister training programme involving a two-part Bar Professional Course run by the Inns of Court, which should be cheaper for aspiring barristers. 

A statement posted on the Bar Council’s website highlights its support of trans, non-binary and gender-fluid individuals, and urges chambers to recognise that “some people are transgender and not everyone feels that their gender can be defined within the margins of gender binary.”

The Law Reform Committee of the Bar Council has announced the topic for its annual essay competition, sponsored by the Bar Council scholarship trust.

Both undergraduate and postgraduate students considering a career at the Bar are now able to get involved with the Bar Council, benefitting from a number of its services and helping to support its work on access to justice.

The Bar Council has revealed that women and Black employed barristers are most likely to have experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination at work.

The Bar Council has warned that the government's plans to introduce competitive tendering for legal aid contracts and deny defendants the right to choose a lawyer will undermine the UK justice system's good reputation among the international community.

One year after launching its Wellbeing at the Bar online resource, the Bar Council is introducing a certification system for chambers, inns of court and other organisations which adopt mental health and wellbeing policies. 

The Bar Council is the voice of the barrister profession in England and Wales.

Social mobility advocates, a new group of barristers from across England and Wales, have joined the Bar Council’s award-winning social mobility campaign – #IAmTheBar.

Last week, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) welcomed the publication of the Bar Council’s Pupillage Gateway report.