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Unlike a few of my colleagues, I did not have a long-held ambition to become a barrister. I had no real idea as to a future career and I considered a broad variety of options – from joining the military to applying to drama school. I then, as an undergraduate, undertook a mini pupillage in Cardiff. From that point on, the Bar was my intended career path. I was in the second year of an economics degree, so this gave me added impetus to spend less time playing rugby and being in the bar and aim, instead, to be called to the Bar; to get my head down and work to obtain the required grades to hopefully allow me to progress onto the postgraduate Common Professional Examination.
Back in the 90s, the Inns of Court School of Law in London was the only institution that facilitated the requisite ‘Bar Finals’ path to call. Location wise, it meant that I had immediate, physical access to my Inn, Middle Temple. I remember thoroughly enjoying my time at Bar school and at the Inn and making great friends to this day. I also took part, twice, in the end of year Revels revue. I eventually managed to secure pupillage and tenancy in chambers in Swansea before continuing to practise from chambers in Cardiff, where I sustained a split practice prosecuting and defending in the Crown Courts in South and West Wales.
As I have written elsewhere (‘Applying for silk at the employed Bar’, Mike Jones KC, Counsel, Silk Supplement 2025), in 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service was expanding its National Advocacy Programme to add opportunity, and resilience, in the delivery of advocacy at the Crown Courts alongside the self-employed Bar. The CPS were looking to recruit senior advocates nationally to lead on this. It was initially seen, but not borne out, as a ‘threat’ to self-employed practitioners and there was, perhaps understandably, some concern and resistance to this from some practitioners and even from certain quarters of the judiciary.
The various personal and professional reasons for me contemplating a move to the employed Bar are now rather lost in the mists of time but it was certainly a new challenge at that particular time. After many sleepless nights, I did apply (along with some of my fellow self-employed practitioners) and was appointed. There were always going to be those with a negative reaction to such a decision; for example, that you were no longer a ‘proper barrister’ by dint of being employed but, I have to say, I did not encounter any of that hostility from any of the senior judiciary or from those who I truly respected, both personally and professionally.
There have always been various opinions in relation to, for example, solicitor advocates, employed advocates or even self-employed advocates from another set of chambers to one’s own. Changes of practice, location or discipline are not that unusual. I know many self-employed practitioners who only prosecute or only defend or have moved on to family/civil law or to chambers just 100 yards away from their previous set. Given that there is increased movement of advocates between the employed and the self-employed Bar and between chambers, there will always be detractors wherever you are and whatever you do. So, if you are considering a change, do it for the right reasons and do your best.
The reality of either employed or self-employed practice is that they should each have the same fundamental aims – how well you prepare your case, how you engage with those in that case, how you advance that case as expeditiously as possible and how you ensure that your ‘employers’ (lay and professional) and the judiciary have the confidence that you are doing all of the above.
There are the obvious advantages – certainty of income and other employed benefits, such as paid leave etc. – but I would caution anyone against taking that as their motivation or lead in any decision to become an employed barrister. At the time of writing, overall, after five years’ call, self-employed barristers can earn more than their employed counterparts (certainly in crime) and the demands upon a conscientious employed practitioner are the same as on any conscientious self-employed colleague – late night or anti-social working, last minute briefs or changes of venue, judge or opponent, liaising with (in crime) our criminal justice partners, adhering to tight judicial orders and engaging with lay witnesses, defendants, complainants, victims and their families to move cases forward as expeditiously as possible. These are universal and fundamental demands.
In chambers, you may be involved in various committees. As an employed advocate, you will also have meetings and commitments with your employer (and your Inn) over and above your court work, so those demands are, again, comparable.
There is a misconception that, somehow, when you become employed, you lose your independence in decision-making. For my part, and on speaking with other colleagues across England and Wales, that is far from the position. You are not ‘instructed’. You are empowered and encouraged to make the right decision when considering all the circumstances of the case in which you are involved. Of course, you assess the views of all involved, but you are enabled to make the right decision on a case expediently. I know that the judiciary, given the pressures on the criminal justice system and court sitting days, value advocates who are in a position to make a decision at court. We are all aware of the pressures of last-minute briefs but there is, in some way, a greater pressure and responsibility as an employed advocate, who has the capability, when taking conduct of a case and are there, at court, to make that decision there and then.
This was not something, at all, on my radar. Being an employed barrister, it seemed a very remote option and the success rate among the employed Bar is woefully low. I started to receive encouragement to consider applying from some senior judges and silks, on and off Circuit, including Graham Reeds KC (now HHJ Graham Reeds KC) and Philip Bennetts KC (now Director of Public Prosecutions at the Turks and Caicos) – the first two silks appointed from practice at the CPS in its history. In 2017, I took the plunge and was delighted to be appointed in 2018, the first such appointment from the CPS in Wales.
Society and the criminal justice system (and the financial pressures on both) mean that there will remain a constant and pressurised legal landscape as to timescales, sitting days, judicial orders, how and from where we individually practise (in chambers, offices or remotely at home), how that affects our work and how it impacts on our individual personal circumstances. One thing that is apparent is that there is a greater movement now more than ever before between the employed and self-employed Bar and to and from different practice areas, right from pupillage and throughout a career at the Bar.
For example, the 2025 CPS Crown Advocacy Pathway is a programme to provide training and to develop skills to support talented advocates to apply for Crown Advocate posts, whether employed or self-employed. It is also designed to provide a mechanism to facilitate social mobility and increase diversity in all those as to how seek a career as advocates. We should all embrace and encourage good quality advocates, whatever their background, and certainly into criminal law where there has been a drain on talent for many years. We all want good, engaging and responsible advocates at the Crown Court, wherever they hail from.
To reinforce this, the Bar Council has, for years, actively promoted the ‘One Bar’ philosophy. One thing we all have in common as barristers (wherever we practise from) is that we were all, once, called to the Bar and all are members of our respective Inns. We all practise from various chambers or various offices, in various disciplines depending on our professional and personal circumstances. The reality is, if our own, individual roles are approached conscientiously and competently, whether employed or self-employed, we have more in common than divides us. It is how we prepare our cases, how we discharge our duties to the court, how we approach the work, engage with the people and the individuals or team we are involved with and, ultimately, how we put that case in the best possible shape before the court. It is certainly not about our background, where we have come from or where we are based. It is about what we do, individually, as a barrister for those to whom we have a duty and a responsibility.
Michael Jones KC practised from chambers in South Wales before joining the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2009 as the first Senior Crown Advocate in Wales. In 2018 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel, the first ever such appointment from the CPS in Wales. He also remains, in silk, a pupil supervisor. He is a Middle Temple Bencher, a Middle Temple Advocacy Trainer and Student Sponsor, one of three National Advocacy Panel Assessors for the CPS and a member of the national CPS/Bar Diversity and Inclusive Panel. In 2018, he was in the final shortlist of three for the Bar Council’s ‘Employed Barrister of the Year’ Awards. He is a member of the Bar Council and past Chair of its Employed Barristers’ Committee, past Chair of the Employed Bar Society at Middle Temple, Member of the Bench Selection Advisory Committee of Middle Temple, Secretary of the Middle Temple Wales Circuit Society, Member of the Wales and Chester Circuit, a door tenant at 30, Park Place Chambers in Cardiff and Chairman of the Welsh Senedd/Parliamentary Rugby XV.
Unlike a few of my colleagues, I did not have a long-held ambition to become a barrister. I had no real idea as to a future career and I considered a broad variety of options – from joining the military to applying to drama school. I then, as an undergraduate, undertook a mini pupillage in Cardiff. From that point on, the Bar was my intended career path. I was in the second year of an economics degree, so this gave me added impetus to spend less time playing rugby and being in the bar and aim, instead, to be called to the Bar; to get my head down and work to obtain the required grades to hopefully allow me to progress onto the postgraduate Common Professional Examination.
Back in the 90s, the Inns of Court School of Law in London was the only institution that facilitated the requisite ‘Bar Finals’ path to call. Location wise, it meant that I had immediate, physical access to my Inn, Middle Temple. I remember thoroughly enjoying my time at Bar school and at the Inn and making great friends to this day. I also took part, twice, in the end of year Revels revue. I eventually managed to secure pupillage and tenancy in chambers in Swansea before continuing to practise from chambers in Cardiff, where I sustained a split practice prosecuting and defending in the Crown Courts in South and West Wales.
As I have written elsewhere (‘Applying for silk at the employed Bar’, Mike Jones KC, Counsel, Silk Supplement 2025), in 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service was expanding its National Advocacy Programme to add opportunity, and resilience, in the delivery of advocacy at the Crown Courts alongside the self-employed Bar. The CPS were looking to recruit senior advocates nationally to lead on this. It was initially seen, but not borne out, as a ‘threat’ to self-employed practitioners and there was, perhaps understandably, some concern and resistance to this from some practitioners and even from certain quarters of the judiciary.
The various personal and professional reasons for me contemplating a move to the employed Bar are now rather lost in the mists of time but it was certainly a new challenge at that particular time. After many sleepless nights, I did apply (along with some of my fellow self-employed practitioners) and was appointed. There were always going to be those with a negative reaction to such a decision; for example, that you were no longer a ‘proper barrister’ by dint of being employed but, I have to say, I did not encounter any of that hostility from any of the senior judiciary or from those who I truly respected, both personally and professionally.
There have always been various opinions in relation to, for example, solicitor advocates, employed advocates or even self-employed advocates from another set of chambers to one’s own. Changes of practice, location or discipline are not that unusual. I know many self-employed practitioners who only prosecute or only defend or have moved on to family/civil law or to chambers just 100 yards away from their previous set. Given that there is increased movement of advocates between the employed and the self-employed Bar and between chambers, there will always be detractors wherever you are and whatever you do. So, if you are considering a change, do it for the right reasons and do your best.
The reality of either employed or self-employed practice is that they should each have the same fundamental aims – how well you prepare your case, how you engage with those in that case, how you advance that case as expeditiously as possible and how you ensure that your ‘employers’ (lay and professional) and the judiciary have the confidence that you are doing all of the above.
There are the obvious advantages – certainty of income and other employed benefits, such as paid leave etc. – but I would caution anyone against taking that as their motivation or lead in any decision to become an employed barrister. At the time of writing, overall, after five years’ call, self-employed barristers can earn more than their employed counterparts (certainly in crime) and the demands upon a conscientious employed practitioner are the same as on any conscientious self-employed colleague – late night or anti-social working, last minute briefs or changes of venue, judge or opponent, liaising with (in crime) our criminal justice partners, adhering to tight judicial orders and engaging with lay witnesses, defendants, complainants, victims and their families to move cases forward as expeditiously as possible. These are universal and fundamental demands.
In chambers, you may be involved in various committees. As an employed advocate, you will also have meetings and commitments with your employer (and your Inn) over and above your court work, so those demands are, again, comparable.
There is a misconception that, somehow, when you become employed, you lose your independence in decision-making. For my part, and on speaking with other colleagues across England and Wales, that is far from the position. You are not ‘instructed’. You are empowered and encouraged to make the right decision when considering all the circumstances of the case in which you are involved. Of course, you assess the views of all involved, but you are enabled to make the right decision on a case expediently. I know that the judiciary, given the pressures on the criminal justice system and court sitting days, value advocates who are in a position to make a decision at court. We are all aware of the pressures of last-minute briefs but there is, in some way, a greater pressure and responsibility as an employed advocate, who has the capability, when taking conduct of a case and are there, at court, to make that decision there and then.
This was not something, at all, on my radar. Being an employed barrister, it seemed a very remote option and the success rate among the employed Bar is woefully low. I started to receive encouragement to consider applying from some senior judges and silks, on and off Circuit, including Graham Reeds KC (now HHJ Graham Reeds KC) and Philip Bennetts KC (now Director of Public Prosecutions at the Turks and Caicos) – the first two silks appointed from practice at the CPS in its history. In 2017, I took the plunge and was delighted to be appointed in 2018, the first such appointment from the CPS in Wales.
Society and the criminal justice system (and the financial pressures on both) mean that there will remain a constant and pressurised legal landscape as to timescales, sitting days, judicial orders, how and from where we individually practise (in chambers, offices or remotely at home), how that affects our work and how it impacts on our individual personal circumstances. One thing that is apparent is that there is a greater movement now more than ever before between the employed and self-employed Bar and to and from different practice areas, right from pupillage and throughout a career at the Bar.
For example, the 2025 CPS Crown Advocacy Pathway is a programme to provide training and to develop skills to support talented advocates to apply for Crown Advocate posts, whether employed or self-employed. It is also designed to provide a mechanism to facilitate social mobility and increase diversity in all those as to how seek a career as advocates. We should all embrace and encourage good quality advocates, whatever their background, and certainly into criminal law where there has been a drain on talent for many years. We all want good, engaging and responsible advocates at the Crown Court, wherever they hail from.
To reinforce this, the Bar Council has, for years, actively promoted the ‘One Bar’ philosophy. One thing we all have in common as barristers (wherever we practise from) is that we were all, once, called to the Bar and all are members of our respective Inns. We all practise from various chambers or various offices, in various disciplines depending on our professional and personal circumstances. The reality is, if our own, individual roles are approached conscientiously and competently, whether employed or self-employed, we have more in common than divides us. It is how we prepare our cases, how we discharge our duties to the court, how we approach the work, engage with the people and the individuals or team we are involved with and, ultimately, how we put that case in the best possible shape before the court. It is certainly not about our background, where we have come from or where we are based. It is about what we do, individually, as a barrister for those to whom we have a duty and a responsibility.
Chair of the Bar sets out a busy calendar for the rest of the year
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Rachel Davenport, Co-founder and Director at AlphaBiolabs, outlines why barristers, solicitors, judges, social workers and local authorities across the UK trust AlphaBiolabs for court-admissible testing
A £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs is helping to support women and children affected by domestic abuse, thanks to the company’s unique charity initiative that empowers legal professionals to give back to community causes
Casey Randall of AlphaBiolabs discusses the benefits of Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity testing for the Family Court
Philip N Bristow explains how to unlock your aged debt to fund your tax in one easy step
Come in with your eyes open, but don’t let fear cloud the prospect. A view from practice by John Dove
Timothy James Dutton CBE KC was known across the profession as an outstanding advocate, a dedicated public servant and a man of the utmost integrity. He was also a loyal and loving friend to many of us
Lana Murphy and Francesca Perera started their careers at the Crown Prosecution Service before joining chambers. They discuss why they made the move and the practicalities of setting up self-employed practice as qualified juniors
As threats and attacks against lawyers continue to rise, a new international treaty offers a much-needed safeguard. Sarah Kavanagh reports on the landmark convention defending the independence of lawyers and rule of law
Author: Charlotte Proudman Reviewer: Stephanie Hayward
