Board Members

You can make a contribution to the future of the Bar  

The Bar Standards Board, the independent regulatory body for barristers in England and Wales, is seeking new lay and barrister members.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is the independent regulator for barristers and related specialised legal services businesses in England and Wales.  We exercise the regulatory functions delegated to us by the Bar Council in line with the regulatory objectives laid down by the Legal Services Act 2007. The primary role of the Board is to ensure that we act in the public interest in accordance with those objectives.   To that end, we set education and training requirements, establish and maintain professional standards, authorise organisations, and deal with questions of professional misconduct. We are governed by a Board of 11 members, made up of five practising barristers and six lay people, including the Chair.

We seek to appoint two lay Board members and one barrister Board member who will work with others on the Board to lead the organisation through a time of far reaching change in the legal services market and its regulation. Over the next ten years, barristers in England and Wales will continue to face major challenges. These include levels of public funding, changing consumer demands and expectations, and technological advances.  The BSB must ensure that its regulation is risk-based, proportionate and agile in a changing legal services and regulatory landscape.  It must also seek to promote equality and diversity at the Bar. 

To meet these challenges the Bar Standards Board itself is reforming to become more proactive and consumer-focused in its approach to regulation and more efficient in its delivery of its regulatory functions.

We want the Bar to be as fully diverse as the society it serves, and we strive for diverse representation to be reflected across all areas of our organisation, including on our Board. We welcome applications from anyone regardless of age, experience, sexuality, religion, beliefs, disability or neurodiversity, ethnicity, race, gender, gender identity, marital status and socioeconomic background.

The Board aims to have barrister members with a wide variety of practice backgrounds.   We would particularly welcome applicants from the Circuits, from the Employed Bar and from the Young Bar.

For lay members, the Board is especially keen to appoint someone with experience of consumer advocacy, policy and/or engagement and someone with strong commercial expertise (ideally that would include change management in a commercial context as well as risk and finance at a strategic level).  

You will have an awareness of the issues facing the justice system and the legal services market. You should be able to provide high-level strategic thinking, advice and leadership on the development and implementation of policy relating to the work of the BSB.  You will also understand the role of non-executive directors in supporting and challenging the executive team to achieve the BSB’s objectives.  

For further information, please visit the opportunities page on the Inclusive Boards website

If you wish to apply for this position, please supply a detailed CV, a completed cover letter form and supporting details form.

All candidates for the lay member roles must meet the definition of a “lay person” as defined by the Legal Services Act. They must never have been authorised to supply legal services by an approved regulator (e.g. as a barrister, solicitor, legal executive etc.) in England or Wales or have been a Scottish solicitor or advocate or a Northern Irish solicitor or barrister.

All candidates for the barrister member role must be a practising barrister ie must be authorised to practise by the Bar Standards Board.

Closing date: 23.59pm 29 September 2024 

Disabled candidates who require reasonable adjustments should contact Inclusive Boards . The Bar Standards Board is Disability Confident.   Disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria for this role will be guaranteed a first stage interview under this scheme.