Professional & Financial Services

Run a barristers' practice or IP attorney firm

Barristers in England and Wales practise under a Bar Standards Board practising certificate, with separate extensions for conducting litigation and public access work. Patent and trade mark attorneys register with IPReg — the protected titles and the reserved legal activities flow from registration, although anyone may act before the Intellectual Property Office itself.

UK-wide
On this page
UK-wide

Related guides in General Compliance

Protect your intellectual property

How to identify, protect, and enforce your intellectual property rights. Includes guidance on trademarks, patents, copyright, and design …

Identify your intellectual property

Discover what intellectual property your business owns, from brand names and creative content to inventions and designs. Understanding …

These two professions sit under the Legal Services Act 2007 but outside the solicitor framework. The General Council of the Bar is the approved regulator for barristers, with the Bar Standards Board (BSB) as its independent regulatory arm; CIPA and CITMA are the approved regulators for patent and trade mark attorneys, regulating through IPReg. Each profession has its own register, practising rules and insurance arrangements.

Practise as a barrister

Three extensions matter when you set up: a standard practising certificate confers rights of audience, but conducting litigation needs a separate BSB litigation extension; public access work (taking instructions directly from lay clients) requires the BSB public access training; and a barrister-led company or partnership must be authorised by the BSB as an entity. Practising barristers must also hold adequate professional indemnity cover — for self-employed practice, through membership of the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund.

Register as a patent or trade mark attorney

The practice side

Chambers and attorney firms are employers like any other: health and safety, fire, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection all apply — follow "Set up and run a safe legal or accounting practice". Litigation and advisory work can also bring you within the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 where it involves the specified transactional activities — check whether your work needs an AML supervisor.

Devolved regulation

The BSB regulates barristers in England and Wales. Advocates in Scotland are regulated by the Faculty of Advocates, and barristers in Northern Ireland by the General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland. IPReg's registers are UK-wide.

Official sources

The regulators for the Bar and the IP attorney professions.