Errant barristers to be named and shamed on website

Reckless QCs and other mischievous barristers found guilty of misconduct are to be named and shamed on a website run by the new body set up to regulate 15,000 advocates in England and Wales.

The move follows criticism that the Bar has, in past, tried to cover up allegations of serious misconduct by not publicising disciplinary proceedings. Under the scheme, barristers and the charges they are facing will be published along with the date and time of the tribunal hearing.

All findings of guilt and resulting sentences will also be made public within seven days of the end of the hearing. Suspensions and disbarments will remain on the website indefinitely, with other findings removed after two years.

The scheme, run by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), brings barristers into line with other professions, such as doctors and dentists, which have opened up their disciplinary systems.

But other misconduct hearings will be given no publicity and will continue to he heard in private.

These include summary hearings for less serious allegations, adjudication panels dealing with charges of inadequate professional services and interim suspension panels which consider serious criminal offences likely to lead to professional misconduct.

There will also be no publicity at fitness-to-practice hearings which consider alcoholism or other health or capacity issues.

The BSB director, Mark Stobbs, said: "Where hearings are open to the public, it is essential that the public should be able to find out that they are taking place. Our arrangements in the past have been criticised because it can be difficult to discover details of the hearings. This section of the website will meet these concerns and provides further evidence of the BSB's determination that its regulatory arrangements should be transparent and open."

The BSB also announced an increase of the award to consumers for barristers who provide a poor service from £5,000 for £15,000. This could include cases of rudeness or poor legal work. In some cases barristers will be made to apologise to a successful complainant.

Lawyers behaving badly

* Bruce Hyman, 49, was jailed for 12 months, for sending a fake legal document to incriminate a father during a child custody battle. Hyman, who is also a renowned television and radio producer, is believed to be the first barrister to be convicted and sent to prison for perverting the course of justice in 800 years.

* In 2005 John Burrett, 57, was disbarred for professional misconduct after being jailed in New Zealand for his part in a kidnap plot. Burrett, who was also expelled from Middle Temple, was jailed for seven years by Wellington High Court for conspiracy to kidnap and possession of an illegal firearm.

* In 2002 Gordon Pringle was suspended from the Bar for a year for being racist to a solicitor's clerk. Mr Pringle used words that the Council of the Inns of Court, said were "intentionally racist". Mr Pringle was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £ 500 costs on the two out of five complaints against him which were upheld.