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CBA Wellbeing Protocol

A growing number of barristers’ chambers, including Colleton Chambers, has signed up to the Criminal Bar Association’s Wellbeing Protocol.  As the CBA states:

“In recent years, the working lives of Criminal Barristers have changed significantly, giving rise to an increase in the number, nature and levels of stresses to which members are subject. The traditional in-court working hours – 10:30 to 4:30 -have steadily increased. Courts now typically start at 10am, and frequently sit earlier. Similarly, whilst most cases are still scheduled to conclude at around 4:30, trial judges will often extend sitting significantly beyond that time. Breaks during the day have also been steadily eroded.

Additionally, more is expected to be done out of court and pre-trial; and since the advent of mobile telephones and email, it has become increasingly the case that barristers are called upon to address issues long before they attend court in the morning, long after they have finished court for the day, and also throughout the weekend. It is becoming increasingly frequent for trial judges to require written submissions to be prepared overnight and weekend.

The principal driver for this change has been economic – it is a statement of the obvious that the longer we work each day, for the same daily rate or less as previously, the less we are paid for doing the same amount of work. Another driver has been the laudable desire for cases to be dealt with in a shorter timeframe than had previously been the case, although this aim has been much negated by the substantial and planned reductions in the number of court sitting hours.

The Criminal Bar has always been, and will remain, a flexible public service orientated profession, and nothing in the Protocol is intended to restrict that flexibility and public service. There will always be occasions when Criminal Barristers, recognising genuine and particular need, will operate outside of this Protocol, but that flexibility should not be regarded as the norm, nor taken for granted. The stresses and pressures of practice at the modern Criminal Bar must be maintained within reasonable limits; failure to do so clearly places individual practitioners at the risk of substantial negative impact to their health and well-being. It also has the inevitable consequence of making the profession and the requirements of professional practice beyond those with other caring commitments. This has had a substantial impact upon the diversity of the profession.

The CBA therefore proposes the following Protocol to be adopted throughout criminal courts to assist in creating and sustaining safe and healthy working environments to promote longevity in careers at the Criminal Bar. The Protocol is to be regarded as the standard for ordinary practice. It is not intended to cover every possible variation in the situations faced in real life; and it is not to be regarded as inflexible in accommodating particular situations. However, in the absence of particular and identifiable reason, it should be regarded as the limit of acceptable demand upon professional working life.”

CBA Wellbeing Protocol

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