Building A Sustainable Practice At The Bar
A practical checklist for barristers who want to build, strengthen and sustain their practice
A sustainable practice at the Bar does not happen by accident.
It requires more than being a good barrister
Building A Sustainable Practice At The Bar is a practical checklist with a short commentary designed to help barristers take a more deliberate approach to building and maintaining their practice.
What It Covers
- what you want to be briefed for
- building stronger solicitor briefing relationships
- becoming known for particular work
- making yourself easy to brief
- building a reputation for judgment
- fees, cash flow and practice resilience
- maintaining relationships even when you are busy
- developing specialist expertise
- reviewing your practice like a business
It also looks at how AI and broader changes in legal practice may affect where the value of specialist counsel sits in the years ahead.
Who It’s For
This checklist is for barristers who:
- are establishing a practice at the Bar
- want to build stronger briefing relationships
- want to develop a clearer area of expertise
- want to improve the quality and mix of their briefs
- want to build greater financial resilience
- want to take a more deliberate approach to the future of their practice
Why It Matters
Being busy is not necessarily the same thing as building a strong practice.
A full diary at any given time can still hide weak briefing relationships, over-dependence on a small number of solicitors, poor fee recovery, unclear positioning or work that is taking the practice in the wrong direction.
This checklist is designed to help you step back and look at the practice around the barrister holistically.
Because a full diary does not necessarily mean a profitable, sustainable practice.