Barristers code of conduct : professional ethics

What is it like for you navigating social media as a barrister? do you have the typical social media platforms and if so, do you use pseudonym?, are you able to post about your personal life? Or do you just maintain no personal social media unless it pertains to your practice?

I have heard this quite a few times that the bar is a very small community. As a result is there a lot of gossip? If I make a mistake will everyone just talk about me while I awkwardly walk past my colleagues or other barristers. Do I have to walk on egg shells? Is there a lot of “posturing”.

Have you had any awkward run ins with the BSB? There’s so many different rules to stay on top of in the code of conduct.

What’s your relationship like with the clerks and court ushers. Do you have to be buddy buddy with them? I read on my course that they can really “make your career” apparently.

Dealing with rude judges. I don’t understand how judges can be rude, I have heard of this quite a few times and read about it on the BPC. As barristers we cannot abuse our roles as advocates. Isn’t there an equivalent for judges ?

Reply 1

Crazy Jamie

Careers Forum Helper

There's a lot to get through here.

Social media. Five minutes on Twitter will tell you that barristers take very different approaches on social media. Some post mainly or exclusively about personal or frivolous matters. Some are all work. Some are anonymous. Most are not, and some are highly political or use social media to further their activism. In many ways it's a personal choice. I am on Twitter and use my real name, but haven't really been active for a couple of years. Ultimately with very few exceptions Twitter is a self contained community that doesn't really do anything for your career outside of it. People on Twitter tend to think that issues on Twitter are much wider known amongst the general public than they actually are. I have my own views on barristers who act appropriately on Twitter, and those who don't, but very few barristers have had issues with the BSB around social media conduct. There are very often calls for the BSB to get involved with certain individuals, but it very rarely happens.

To give some examples, Sean Jones is someone who exemplifies how to conduct yourself as a barrister on social media. Charlotte Proudman and Paul Powlesland are two examples of barristers who use Twitter to further their activism, and at times have acted in ways that some barristers think that is contrary to our professional standards. Whereas Steven Barrett uses Twitter to further his desire to become a recognised 'legal expert' outside of the legal industry, but has received a lot of criticism as to how he goes about doing that. Not from the BSB, though.

It is worth saying that some of those barristers are the subject of discussion amongst other barristers and judges. When you actively try to raise your online profile, at times by making statements that you know will be seen as inflammatory and/or controversial, that is a natural consequence. Beyond that, I don't think there's a huge amount of gossip at the Bar. It being a small community is relevant for those few barristers who fall quite far below the standards of the profession. There is a barrister who practises on my circuit, for example, who had a reputation for misleading opponents before I went against him in second six, and he then tried to mislead me. Since then I have warned pupils and more junior tenants about him, and it is common knowledge that he simply cannot be trusted. That's the sort of reputation that you can get very easily at the Bar, but there's no walking on egg shells, and not really any posturing. People do not gossip about every little mistake. Indeed, to the contrary. The Bar as a whole is pretty supportive internally in my experience. You're not going to be gossiped about every time you put a foot wrong.

I have had no run ins with the BSB at all. The code of conduct really isn't that difficult to comply with. It's pretty much common sense in the main. I've had one or two occasions where I've had difficult queries about it, and that's what the helpline is for. Otherwise it's not difficult to pick the right approach to something with a bit of thought, and you'll always have other barristers to ask if you're unsure about something.

You don't have to become best friends with clerks or ushers, but you can and should be friendly with them and build relationships with them. Again, that's not difficult. It just requires you to be a nice person and not treat them like subordinates. Clerks can absolutely make your career because they have so much control over it. Ushers and court staff less so, but there will be times when you need them to come to your rescue, and if you haven't been nice to them they will absolutely refuse to help you. This isn't some sort of trick or burden. It's just about being nice to people and treating them like human beings.

Yes, there is a code of conduct for judges. Like many things, day to day it's mostly a big grey area. The vast majority of judges are perfectly nice. But you will come across many judges in many hearings who are frustrated and let that frustration be known, and you will come across many judges who flirt with or cross over that line and become aggressive or rude to one degree or another. It could be that they're having a bad day. It could be that their style is more challenging and demands more of advocates. It could be that they are one of the very small number of judges nowadays who are rude and aggressive. Much like barristers on social media, for anything to happen there needs to be a complaint, and the regulator needs to step in. And that is rare. Ultimately you will be put in challenging situations before judges as a barrister, and in most of those the judge isn't acting contrary to their professional standards at all. It's just a challenging situation. For example, it's common to represent a client who has not followed directions, is in a weak position, or is otherwise asking you to do something that is a bit of a long shot, and judges get frustrated at that because, frankly, they're human. You don't have to deal with bullying or aggressive judges very often at all as a barrister, but dealing with frustrated judges that are critical of you (or more commonly, your solicitor or lay client) is absolutely normal.

Reply 2

AMac86

To add to what Jamie's written above on some of the more general points from a solicitors perspective:

Very few legal professionals will use pseudonyms for social media accounts, we're all just humans with normal lives and friendship groups at the end of the day. However anything you place on social media is ultimately a public communication and could be seen by your employer or clients so my advice would personally be to not post anything that you would not want your clients or your employer to see and never use social media to complain about work.

I only use social media to post occasional holiday or travel photos and that seems to be common amongst most of my friends who are in legal and other professional careers. Those rare moanings about work when going through a tough time are best done offline in the company of trusted friends.

Interactions with the regulator are very rare, the vast, vast majority of barristers and solicitors will go through their entire career without any regulatory issues at all and compliance with the associated codes is either quite common sense based or quickly becomes second nature.

Relationship building whether with colleagues and clients is important in almost any professional career. Be helpful, friendly and nice to others and they will likely be helpful back. You never know when, where and from whom opportunities and work might arise to develop your career. This is essentially all part of the marketing and building of your practice. Some of the most pivotal moments that advanced my career came from the opportunities I was unexpectedly given by colleagues who I'd previously built strong and helpful working relationships with.