Bar Standards Board

The Bar Standards Board regulates barristers in England and Wales in the public interest.

It is responsible for:

The BSB's functions were originally carried out by the Bar Council, the barristers' representative body, until 2006 when the Bar Council created the BSB as an independent regulator. However the Legal Services Board has questioned the independence of the BSB from the Bar Council.

The BSB's governing board meets monthly at its headquarters in High Holborn, London, and holds public and private sessions. It has a majority of lay (non-barrister) members and the remainder are barristers. Its chair is Sir Andrew Burns KCMG who joined in January 2015. The vice-chair, since January 2013, is Patricia Robertson QC, a barrister at Fountain Court Chambers. She replaced Sir Geoffrey Nice.