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The Ministry of Justice has thrown cold water on the Bar Council’s call to abolish the Legal Services Board (LSB). On Saturday, Bar Council chairman Michael Todd QC said the new Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, was sympathetic to concerns that the legal profession is over-regulated.

The Bar Council has issued a sharp rebuke to the Legal Services Board for criticising how it is approaching the legal services reforms, saying that while “our regulators talk about key performance indicators, we talk about the interests of justice”.

Solicitors are putting barristers under “increasing pressure” to enter into referral fee agreements, to the detriment of clients, the public interest and the junior Bar, the Bar Council has claimed. It also warned that providing junior barristers at discounted rates can amount to a referral fee.

It is solicitors, and not barristers, who are to blame for the decline in advocacy standards that has led to the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), the Bar Council has claimed, while also strongly opposing the creation of ‘plea-only advocates’.

Barristers will soon be able to offer a full range of legal services after the Bar Council unveiled a third-party escrow account which will hold client money. All funds are to be held in a ring-fenced account with Barclays.