‘Barristers work in a high stress, often solitary environment, which has historically favoured a “stiff upper lip” approach when dealing with those who are going through personal or professional challenges. I am pleased to say that this is changing, but it will change faster if chambers encourage conversations in this area.’
That is the opinion of Richard (Rick) Hoyle, a junior specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration at Essex Court Chambers and – more importantly – the chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee. Speaking to The Legal 500 in February, Hoyle highlighted the duality of modern communication methods – both blessing and curse – as perhaps having the greatest impact on barristers’ wellbeing. ‘If you get yourself into a situation where you answer emails at 3am you’ll create an expectation that you will always answer emails at 3am.
Sometimes we will have to work those hours, but thinking carefully about where lines can be drawn is important.’ The Essex Court tenant also called on senior members of the Bar to support and help institute wellbeing initiatives, rather than thinking of such policies as ‘a little bit fluffy’, as they have historically been seen in some quarters. ‘Some senior people practised at a time when the pace of life was perhaps a little bit slower and the demands, again, were different.
But it is becoming increasingly accepted at the higher end of the profession that wellbeing is important.’ Hoyle suggested sets launch mentoring schemes where junior barristers can talk to either a senior clerk, who does not directly clerk them, or a more senior member of chambers, when in need of someone to turn to. This is especially important for those barristers who are unable to leave their work at the front door and switch off at the end of a long day.
‘Barristers have a tendency to live their cases and it can become all encompassing,’ he said. ‘The stresses of a criminal practitioner are very different from those of a commercial practitioner but they are both high-stress environments. We need to concentrate on taking a step back and keeping things at arm’s length.
It is about creating a space to have a better work-life balance and enabling barristers to switch off from their work.’ Called in 2013, Hoyle – who is listed by The Legal 500 as one of the top ten commercial juniors under eight years’ call, and described as ‘very bright, pragmatic, and works well with junior and senior team members’ by his peers – was elected to the Bar Council for a three-year term, commencing January 2016.
In November 2016 he was elected vice chair of the Young Bar for 2017 and succeeded as chair on 1 January 2018. Speaking at the annual Legal Practice Management conference in February, the Young Bar chair outlined a number of issues which those barristers up to seven years’ call presently require from chambers, including: support in the transition from pupillage to tenancy; the involvement of juniors in sets’ decision making; as well as ‘active consideration’ of new ways of working and how best to respond to future opportunities and challenges.
Support for young barristers during their transition from pupillage to tenancy is extremely important, said Hoyle. ‘No doubt the person in question will be ecstatic to have heard that they are being taken on in chambers, but that feeling is quite likely to be replaced, rapidly, by feelings of uncertainty about a great number of issues – personal finance and tax, how chambers really functions, and how to engage with the clerks, to name but a few. ‘It is easy to assume that whilst pupils are clearly and obviously vulnerable, those who have made the cut are somehow just okay to get on with things,’ he added. ‘A chambers getting its approach to support right, does not make those assumptions.
It goes without saying that barristers are subject matter experts, but despite what they might occasionally try to bluff at the pub, they are not expert at everything!’ So where should sets begin when setting out to create a supportive environment for the barristers of tomorrow? ‘A proper chambers induction is a good place to start,’ suggested Hoyle, ‘whether your new tenants have been on their feet for the previous six months or whether they will be engaging with clients and clerks directly for the first time. ‘To start with, this probably involves: an explanation of a range of chambers policies, such as fair allocation of work, equality and diversity, and grievance processes; the type of case mix and case load that will be typical (and at what point the barrister can expect to start shaping those things more actively); and whether you might want or be expected to go out on secondment.’
An induction to the ‘dark arts of fee collection’, chambers rent, and pay more generally is also necessary, according to Hoyle. ‘For the last year, the Young Bar has been concerned about poor payment practices which can have a particular impact on the lives of young barristers and whether their chosen career remains a viable one.’
While the Young Bar’s main focus has been on payment of fees for work in the magistrates’ court, Hoyle said that non-payment for completed work is an issue affecting more than just those at the Criminal Bar. ‘A builder would not expect to go months and months without being paid for a job already completed,’ he said. ‘There is no reason why a barrister should.’ However, Hoyle said chambers’ should also engage in some self-reflection and consider whether they are, in fact, exacerbating the problem. ‘A business model which farms out the most junior barristers on cut price rates in order to bring in more lucrative work for senior members of chambers is wrong, unless there is a mechanism in place to cross subsidise them internally. ‘When starting out, barristers are likely to be pretty financially exposed, and this can be compounded if fees are delayed and chambers requires room rent, or chambers contributions based on fees billed rather than fees paid.
These are areas in which changes of policy can provide a real benefit to new tenants, and in which the attention of those responsible for chasing payment of fees is particularly welcome.’ The involvement of junior barristers in sets’ decision making processes is also of crucial importance to all chambers, not just those that consider themselves dynamic, modern, or forward-thinking. ‘The Bar generally has a feel of being quite flat, quite non-hierarchical, on a social level. And yet, when it comes to chambers governance, it is much the opposite.
How many times do you see the chairs and vice chairs of chambers’ committees being occupied by ageing QCs for years on end? ‘In 1783, William Pitt the Younger became prime minister aged 24, so having a young barrister or two as a committee chair or vice-chair is hardly revolutionary! These people are dynamic, flexible, and think carefully about the future. They are assets to chambers. Use them,’ encouraged Hoyle. Going further, chambers should give ‘active consideration’ to new ways of working and how best to respond to the opportunities and challenges that are presented by them, he continued. ‘Whilst self-employed barristers are members of chambers, they are also small business owners.
They are entitled to think about the risks and rewards of what they do, and to demand that the structure within which they work is doing that as well. ‘At a bare minimum, this involves regular practice meetings and informal discussions about what the barrister has been doing previously, whether they are enjoying it, whether they would prefer to be doing something different or to try to break into a new area in future. ‘The clerking and senior management team can present their thoughts on where chambers as a whole is headed, drawing on a deep pool of experience and expertise.
It is only through this kind of process that both the macro and the micro parts of chambers life can properly be considered and understood.’ Now, more than ever, is the time for more strategic thinking, continued Hoyle. ‘New and flexible ways of working present great challenges for those managing chambers. For example, should remote working be encouraged? It might improve retention rates for barristers with children as it offers greater flexibility, but it leads to empty rooms and increased isolation, as well as a potential loss of a valuable pedagogical aspect of chambers, where more junior members can just pop in and ask more senior members a question. ‘This of course plays into questions about whether chambers footprint can be reduced, whether a new lease should be entered into and for how long. And none of that, of course, is really meaningful without actually thinking about the general direction of chambers – are the fields of work of the past still desirable, or even sustainable?
Are there new areas which chambers should push to enter?’ Hoyle takes the helm of the Young Bar at a time when the Bar Council as the profession’s representative body must ask itself some hard questions. The Times reported in November 2017 that numbers of barristers under five years’ call fell by 30% in the ten years to 2015, suggesting a succession planning crisis for the self-employed Bar. ‘Young Bar numbers is a particular issue that everyone is thinking about and it is encouraging to see that those at the top of the Bar Council are taking this seriously,’ he told me.
‘There is going to be more research done on whether this is an entry to the profession problem, an attrition problem, or a bit of both. Once we’ve understood it a little better we can look at finding a solution.’
Of course, the first challenge to finding a solution is for the Bar Council and its junior wing to have buy-in from those it is constituted to represent. ‘People either say the Bar Council spams them with stuff, or that they have no idea what the Bar Council does’, admitted Hoyle. ‘I got involved because I was intrigued as to what the Bar Council was doing. I don’t think enough people are aware of the existence of the Young Barristers’ Committee. I’m hopeful we will be more visible to the people we are actually representing and if they know we are representing them then they’ll be able to give us more feedback and we’ll be more representative.’