Roll of Practising Barristers

If you are a qualified barrister (within the meaning of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, as amended) and you intend to provide legal services in the State, you must apply to the LSRA to have your name entered on the Roll of Practising Barristers.

It is an offence to provide legal services as a barrister without being named on the Roll.

Roll obligations introduced in 2023

Since 31 July 2023, under the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023, barristers on the Roll are required to:

• Update the LSRA with a change to your details, including your name, your postal/email address, whether you are in the full-time service of the State and whether or not you are a member of the Law Library. A failure to update the LSRA could constitute misconduct under the 2015 Act;
• Apply to the LSRA to have your name removed from the Roll where you no longer wish to provide legal services.

You can view and search the Roll below. The Roll was last updated on 15 November 2024.

The Roll is maintained by the LSRA’s Registration, Levy and Fees Unit which you can contact on [email protected].

Supplemental Notes

For a definition of “qualified barrister” see section 2 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 here.

The Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 is available here.

Before filling in an Application Form for the Roll, please read carefully the Application Form Guidance below. It explains the nature of the information requested on the application form and the reason why the information is necessary for the creation of the Roll.

This Guidance Note will be updated in the coming weeks to take account of the changes introduced by the 2023 Act.

A scanned version of the signed Application Form can be emailed to [email protected] or sent by paper copy to:

Registration, Levy and Fees Unit, Legal Services Regulatory Authority, PO Box 12906, Dublin 7.

The 2023 Act introduced important changes in relation to the Roll which include:

• Section 135(5A) of the 2015 Act obliges a practising barrister whose name has been entered on the Roll to notify the Authority of any change in:
  1. 1. his or her name,
     2. whether he or she is a member of the Law Library and
     3. whether he or she is in the full time service of the State.

  The practising barrister shall notify the Authority of any change not later than 30 days after the date on which the change occurred.

• Section 135A(1) and (2) of the 2015 Act provide that where the address or the email address, that can be used by the Authority for the purposes of corresponding with a practising barrister, is no longer his or her address for correspondence or changes, the practising barrister shall, within 30 days of the date of such change, provide the Authority with his or her current address for correspondence.
• Section 135(5I) of the 2015 Act provides that a practising barrister’s failure to comply with section 135(5A) or subsection (1) or (2) of section 135A may be considered as constituting misconduct within the meaning of section 50(1)(m) i.e. ‘consists of a breach of this Act or regulations made under it’. In determining whether this failure should be considered as constituting misconduct the Authority, the Complaints Committee, the Disciplinary Tribunal or, as the case may be, the High Court may have regard to whether the failure to comply –
  • • (a) occurred as a result of the illness or incapacity of the practising barrister concerned, and
    • (b) was remedied without unreasonable delay after the 30 day period had expired.

For further details of other changes, the 2023 Act is available here.

To update your details with the LSRA, please download, complete and sign the form below. A scanned version of the signed form can be emailed to [email protected] or sent by paper copy to:

Registration, Levy and Fees Unit, Legal Services Regulatory Authority, PO Box 12906, Dublin 7

The 2023 Act introduced an important change in relation to removal from the Roll. Section 135(3) of the 2015 Act has been amended such that it now provides that –

“A person whose name has been entered on the roll, who no longer wishes to provide legal services as a practising barrister, shall apply to the Authority to have his or her name removed from the roll”. [Emphasis added].

Accordingly, under the 2023 Act,  a person who no longer wishes to provide legal services as a practising barrister must apply to the Authority to have his/her name removed from the Roll.

The completed form can be returned by email to [email protected] or by post to Registration, Levy and Fees Unit, Legal Services Regulatory Authority, PO Box 12906, Dublin 7.

The LSRA Code of Practice for Practising Barristers came into effect on 26 September 2024. The Code sets out the requirements, rules and standards that apply to every person who is a practising barrister in Ireland as defined in the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, as amended. The Code is issued by the LSRA under section 22 of the Act.

The Code applies to every practising barrister, whether or not they are members of the Bar of Ireland or the Honorable Society of King’s Inns. It supplements the principles of good conduct set out in the existing professional codes of the Bar of Ireland and the Honorable Society of King’s Inns. Where, however, a provision of a professional code of the Bar of Ireland or the Honorable Society of Kings Inns conflicts with a provision of the LSRA Code of Practice for Practising Barristers, the LSRA Code will prevail.

Read the LSRA Code of Practice for Practising Barristers (PDF).

Other relevant codes for legal practitioners are:

• The Law Society of Ireland professional codes can be found on their website along with other useful information.
• The Bar of Ireland Code of Conduct.
• The Honorable Society of King’s Inns’ Professional Code of Conduct.

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