The Bar Standards Board gave the green light for barristers to go into practice with solicitors last week, but proposed an extension of the cab-rank rule to all advocates including solicitors.

At a meeting last week the BSB decided that barristers could join legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs) regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, without the need to re-qualify as solicitors.

The BSB approved in principle the creation of barrister-only partnerships, and allowing barristers to practise in more than one capacity at the same time, enabling them to work part-time in a LDP but remain in self-employed practice too.

It deferred making a decision on whether to permit barristers to enter alternative business structures, and on whether it should regulate the new entities in which barristers chose to practise.

The board said the cab-rank rule would be retained for all self-employed barristers, and also applied to new barrister-only entities. It said it would consult further before determining whether a modified rule should apply to barristers in LDPs, but decided that it should apply to all advocates, including solicitors.

Russell Wallman, director of government relations at the Law Society, welcomed the board’s approach, but said the cab-rank rule should not be extended.

‘The majority of advocacy is undertaken by solicitors and the existing rule solicitor-advocates are bound by – prohibiting discrimination in the provision of advocacy or any other services – fully protects the public interest,’ he said.

David Edmonds, chairman of the Legal Standards Board, said the changes would allow barristers to make an important contribution to the development of the legal services market, while Nicholas Green QC, chairman-elect of the Bar Council, said the decisions would be particularly welcomed by the publicly-funded bar.

Views among the bar remain polarised. Christine Kings, commercial director of London’s progressive Outer Temple Chambers, said: ‘It’s going in the right direction… slowly.’

But the chief executive of one London criminal set said: ‘To allow barristers to enter LDPs without re-qualifying as solicitors is analogous to trademark infringement.’ He said the title of barrister indicates someone who is ‘independent’ and bound by the cab-rank rule not to select whom they represent. If people want to operate ‘client exclusionary practices’, based on commercial considerations, they could – but should become solicitors, he said.

The BSB has yet to give a timetable for the changes.