The future of the Bar: protecting what matters most

The Bar is changing. Pressures around legal aid, the growing use of AI and questions about how to build a sustainable career are prompting difficult conversations about what the profession might look like in the years ahead.

But amid that change, what should the Bar be careful not to lose?

That question was at the centre of a recent LexisNexis webinar bringing together Professor Jo Delahunty KC MCIArb and Yasmin Omotosho, alongside Douglas Simpson, for a candid conversation about the future of the profession.

Speaking from different stages of their careers, Delahunty KC and Omotosho considered some of the issues many barristers will recognise: the realities of publicly funded work, the pressures facing those building a practice, the role of mentorship and the arrival of AI in legal work.

For family practitioners in particular, some of these questions go to the heart of practice. What happens when commitment to publicly funded work becomes increasingly difficult to sustain? Where can technology genuinely help? And as working practices change, which parts of advocacy remain distinctly human?