[1] The scheme allowed members of the public to instruct barristers directly, without the involvement of a solicitor for the first time in more than a century.
Over the course of numerous consultations conducted by the Bar Standards Board, the rules for public access practice were gradually relaxed to serve the public interest, particularly in light of pending cuts to Legal Aid funding.
[2] The current Public Access rules, which enable a wider scope of direct public access to barristers than previous versions, are covered in C119-C131 of the Code of Conduct contained in the Bar Standards Board Handbook which came into force on 15 April 2015.
However, removing solicitors from the processes of running a legal case often requires that clients themselves must perform the majority of document management, filing, and other related activities in the context of conducting litigation.
[3] Therefore, in complicated cases barristers must recommend to clients that they obtain external support from a solicitor.