The bar is in ‘rapid change mode’ and could secure ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ of work through its new ProcureCos, Nick Green QC told the bar’s annual conference.

But the bar’s chairman said that despite a ‘jockeying for position’ with solicitors, the two professions would remain complementary and the bar would allocate work to solicitors.

The ProcureCo operates as a commercial adjunct to a traditional chambers, enabling public bodies and companies, whose procurement rules require them to contract with entities rather than individuals, to contract directly with the bar.

‘If we want their work, and we most certainly do, then we will need to use the ProcureCo-type vehicle in order to obtain it,’ said Green. ‘In my estimation there are hundreds of millions of pounds worth of work which the bar could obtain, but which it is presently unable to service because of the perception by clients that we are not easy to contract with.’

Green called on chambers to expand their markets and prepare to welcome direct access clients. But he stressed the importance of working closely with solicitors. ‘Change does not mean a destruction of old, longstanding friendships,’ he said. ‘There will be, over the next few years, some jockeying for position, but at the end it will be plain to our solicitor colleagues that not only do we remain largely complementary to their skills, but we will also have work to allocate to them.’