Barristers and solicitors will be able to go into practice together as a first step on the post-Clementi road, following a historic meeting of the Bar Standards Board last night.

The board met to consider recommendations from its working group on alternative business structures to determine how barristers should be allowed to practise in light of the Legal Services Act.

Barristers will be allowed to be partners in legal disciplinary practices (LDPs), but the board deferred making any decision on allowing them to practise in ABSs (due to be introduced in 2011) until the Legal Services Board has issued further guidance on licensing rules.

Lady Deech, the board’s chair, said: ‘What we’ve done will excite a lot of the profession that’s been depressed lately by legal aid cuts. It will send a shot of adrenaline through the profession. Hopefully they’ll revive and perk up as a result.’

At the start of the meeting, Lady Deech stressed the importance of maintaining the many impressive qualities of the bar, including its independent and collegiate spirit and the cab rank rule.

But, she said: ‘We understand that the time has come to allow the bar to operate in different ways to suit the public. It’s good for the public and for the rule of law.’

The board agreed in principle to allow barristers to practise in more than one capacity at the same time, enabling them to work part-time in an LDP while remaining in self-employed practice. However, the board said this would not happen until guidance had been formulated on all the complicated issues involved in achieving this.

The board agreed in principle to permit barristers to be shareholders in LDPs, whether or not they are connected with them, but said barristers should be discouraged from such investments until proper guidance in relation to conflicts and the perception of conflicts of interest had been developed by the board.

The board also lifted the prohibition on barristers practising in partnerships with other barristers – the issue that Lady Deech said had most divided the bar.

The cab rank rule will be retained for all self-employed barristers and applied to new barrister-only entities, with further consultation on whether a modified cab rank rule should apply to barristers undertaking advocacy in LDPs.

The board’s view was that the cab rank rule should apply to all advocates, including solicitors, and it said it would be raising the issue with other regulators.

It will also consult further before deciding whether it should extend its regulatory remit from individuals to the entities in which they practise.

The board also approved changes to the structure of self-employed practice, allowing barristers to share office premises and facilities with others and to set up block contracting or procurement vehicles with others.

Subject to the board developing further detailed guidance, self-employed barristers will also be permitted to investigate and collect evidence and take witness statements in civil and criminal cases, advise suspects at the police station and conduct correspondence.

Changes to the bar’s code of conduct will be required to effect these decisions, which will have to be approved either by the Ministry of Justice or the Legal Services Board.