Ever since early 2002, barristers have been legally permitted to offer their services to the public by gaining clients directly within police stations.
For over 100 years the general public has been barred from ever having access to these advocates of the courts.
The idea was to merge the position of a solicitor and a barrister together to cut down costs.
Quickly, the public access barrister had replaced a solicitor altogether.
Barristers can now take statements from suspects within the confines of a police station without a solicitor being present.
Also a suspect can now dial a barrister directly from jail when apprehended instead of using a 24-hour solicitor hotline.
Once direct access was permitted the bar had no excuse but to permit access to clients and suspects within police stations.
Clearly this change of pace was beneficial to the bar as they hoped this concept would spread down and be undertaken by the barristers of junior call.
The sort of cases that a public access barrister has the right to solicit himself are bail applications, criminal appeals, guilty pleas that have been concluded in the magistrate's court and also contested hearings in the magistrate's court where imprisonment was not a punishment.
The benefits of this drastic change had strong results.
The scheme evolved the whole concept of barristers, making them available to the public for anything from consultation to actual representation.
With the help of public access barristers you are now the solicitor, you save on cost by eliminating the middle man.
If the service of a solicitor is eventually needed then the barrister will advise you on the course of action to take.
However the Barrister cannot demand payment for this representation but part of his obligation is appointing or recommending a solicitor for you which you should be able to trust.
Public access barristers are not permitted to handle, receive or pass any form of money from the client other than their own fee.
This keeps the barrister a third party nonpartisan observer; thus preventing them from holding any money pertaining to any party under his advisement.
The ultimate point of using direct access barristers is to cut and reduce costs.
Dealing with one can save you time, money and even sanity as the expedited legal process becomes faster and faster.
In this day and age any form of transparency reduces the cases of corruption and bias.