The Council is composed of twenty-five members: twenty who are elected, four co-opted, and the Attorney-General, who holds office ex officio.

[2][3][4] The King's Inns initially hoped partition would not end its all-island remit, and it set up a "Committee of Fifteen" Northern Ireland benchers in 1922.

This meant that Irish barristers could now train within Ireland, albeit with an obligation to keep terms in one of the Inns of Court in London.

Today, the Office of Public Works and the Bar Council of Ireland fund the various Law Library premises; but as the Bar Council is an unincorporated association, and cannot own property, it relies on some of its barrister-members to act on its behalf as directors of Law Library Properties Ltd.

The Bar of Ireland's code of conduct was changed on 13 March 2006 in a preliminary report on the barristers' profession.

[18] In December 2006, the Competition Authority produced a detailed report outlining and highlighting self-regulating procedures created and enforced by The Bar of Ireland.

[18] Three months later, the Government's Better Regulation Unit (a branch of the Department of the Taoiseach) found that The Bar of Ireland had actually set out important professional standards and rules and maintained and enforced those standards and rules even though statute did not put any onus on The Bar of Ireland to do so.

[21][20] The law was changed to provide a system for Barristers to learn Irish as part of their studies, but without having to undertake an exam.

Following on from these close historical links to the English Bar, for much of the nineteenth century it appeared that a system of barristers' chambers would develop in Ireland.

From July 1924, the term "King's Counsel" was replaced on Irish patents by "Senior Counsel";[37] which were issued by the Chief Justice, although the "privilege of patent" continued to fall within the royal prerogative until transferred to the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (the government) by the Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act 1937.

[41] On 13 June 2000, Jan O'Sullivan asked in the Dáil: "when the Government first granted patents of precedence to barristers at the Irish Bar; the historical circumstances giving rise to the decision to make the grant of patents of precedence to barristers at the Irish Bar by the Government; the basis for the grant of patents of precedence by the Government to barristers at the Irish Bar; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

"[42]The Taoiseach replied: Since the establishment of the State, the Government has granted patents of precedence to barristers leading to the call to the senior Bar by the Chief Justice.

"[43] In 2009, the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes said that it had looked at the difference in the level of legal fees payable to junior and senior counsel.