Bar Council survey found more than eight in 10 barristers reported a very good understanding of their professional obligations
The Bar Council has said ethics culture at the Bar remains strong after a survey of practising barristers found that more than eight in 10 reported a very good understanding of their professional obligations.
The findings come from the Bar Council’s Barristers’ Working Lives survey 2025, which included a specific question set on ethics. The survey was sent to employed and self-employed barristers in England and Wales and had a response rate of 27% of the practising Bar.
According to the Bar Council’s report, barristers gave themselves a mean score of 8.45 out of 10 for their understanding of the code of conduct and professional ethical obligations. In total, 3,300 out of 4,044 respondents scored themselves eight, nine or 10 out of 10.
The report found some variation across the profession. Self-employed barristers reported a mean score of 8.50, compared with 8.13 for employed barristers. Criminal barristers reported the highest average score by practice area, while commercial and civil practitioners reported lower overall scores.
The report concludes the findings showed that barristers take their ethical obligations seriously and that there was no evidence of a need for substantial changes to ethical regulation. However, the Bar Council said it supports updating the Bar Standards Board Handbook to make it clearer and easier to use.
The most significant ethical challenge identified by respondents was pressure from clients to act unethically, with 51% saying this had caused issues to some extent or to a great extent. Maintaining independence was the next biggest challenge, cited by 31% of barristers.
Other concerns included pressure from others to act in a way that might be unethical, the requirement to report serious misconduct, internal pressures and isolation from wider barrister networks. The report said employed barristers were more likely to identify maintaining independence, internal pressure and isolation from wider networks as problems, while pressure from clients was a greater issue for self-employed barristers.
The report also found that barristers generally felt they had support networks available when facing ethical questions. Nearly eight in 10 respondents said they would be very likely to turn to colleagues for ethical support, while senior colleagues or managers were also seen as an important source of help.
The Bar Council said its Ethical Enquiries Service answered 3,948 calls and responded to 550 written queries in 2024/25. The report also noted that 38.4% of barristers had used the service in the previous two years, while 31.1% had used resources on the Bar Council’s Ethics and Practice Hub.
Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the Bar, said the survey allowed the Bar Council to listen to the profession and better understand barristers’ experiences at work.
She said: “Barristers take their ethical obligations very seriously and the range of support on offer ensures that the ethics culture at the Bar remains strong.”
Brimelow said the survey had found no evidence of a need for substantial changes to ethical regulation, but added that the BSB Handbook should be updated to make it clearer and easier to use.
The report notes that ethics has come under greater scrutiny across the legal sector following the Post Office Horizon scandal, strategic lawsuits against public participation and the use of non-disclosure agreements. However, it said only a very small number of barristers identified SLAPPs or NDAs as key ethical challenges, suggesting that any further work in those areas should be specialised and targeted.
On SLAPPs, the report said the Bar Council favoured legislative or procedural solutions rather than making barristers responsible for assessing and policing their clients’ motivations. It said the barristers’ code of conduct already prevents barristers from drafting documents containing arguments they do not consider properly arguable.
The Bar Council said it would consider further support focused on maintaining independence and dealing with pressure from clients to act unethically. The report recommends further support, including free ethics webinars, online on-demand ethics training, new guidance for employed and self-employed barristers, an ethics champions network and further research in two to four years.