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About the Trainers

Andrew Granville Stafford. Call 1987. MA (Cantab). Call 1987 

Although now specialising in civil litigation and disciplinary/regulatory work Andrew has previously practised in crime, family and employment. Andrew has been public access qualified since 2006 and direct instruction now forms a substantial part of his work. Andrew has represented public access clients in the Court of Appeal, the High Court, county courts, Employment Tribunals and disciplinary tribunals. He was described in the agenda to the 2017 Annual Bar Conference as ‘one of the leading authorities on public access practice and procedure’. Andrew’s relevant experience includes:

  • Head of the Bar Council’s Direct Access Panel

  • Founder member of the Public Access Bar Association (PABA)

  • Chair of PABA (2013 to 2018); Treasurer of PABA (2008 to 2013)

  • Elected member of the Bar Council (2015 to present)

  • Member of the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee

  • Member of the Bar Council’s CMA working group

  • Formerly a member of the Bar Council’s Training for the Bar Committee and Access to the Bar Committee. When the Access to the Bar Committee was replaced in 2016 with the Direct Access Panel Andrew was elected as its Head

  • Authorised to conduct litigation

Chris Bryden. BA (Oxon), LLM (Lond.). Call 2003.

Practises in civil, family and employment. Public access qualified since 2010 and direct instruction forms a significant part of his practice. He is also a prolific author. He has written a number of articles for the Solicitors’ Journal and the New Law Journal and his book, Social Media in the Workplace, was published by Jordans in 2016. Chris’ relevant experience includes:

  • Member of PABA and PABA Committee member (2010 to present)

  • Treasurer of PABA (2013 to present)

  • Elected member of the Bar Council (2016 to 2018)

  • Member of the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee (2016 to 2018)

  • Visiting Fellow at the University of Bedfordshire

  • Authorised to conduct litigation

Chris and Andrew’s relevant joint experience includes:

  • BSB approved public access trainers since January 2011

  • Co-authors of the Thomson Reuters Guide to Public Access (‘How to give direct instruction to a barrister’ www.practicallaw.com)

  • Lectures and seminars on public access to the Public Access Bar Association, the Institute of Barristers Clerks, the Annual Bar Conference and Lexis Nexis Webinars. At the invitation of the Chair of the Bar, Andrew lead the 2017 Bar Council debate on the future of public access

  • Assisted Andy Hill at the BSB with the 2013 re-draft of the Guidance to Barristers on the Public Access Scheme

  • Drafted model forms for Consumer Contract Regulations compliance with in 2014 were incorporated into the BSBS’s model client care letter

  • Written articles on public access published in ‘Counsel’ magazine and quoted in articles published in The Times and the Legal Futures website on public access

  • Have been engaged as trainers by HJT Training, Central Law Training and CPD Webinars

  • As PABA committee members, drafted PABA’s response to BSB consultations on the 2018 public access rule changes and the CMA report

 

Have assisted in drafting and developing Bar Council guidance on public access work. Andrew and Chris have written or contributed to 9 of the 11 guidance documents on the Bar Council’s Ethics Hub direct access page.

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