Chris Fogarty reports
Around 10 per cent of barristers who are called to one of the Inns will later leave the independent Bar, according to new Bar Council figures.
The figures, requested by The Lawyer, show that of the 440 barristers who obtained a tenancy in the1988/89 legal year, 44 had left by October 1996.
That 10 per cent drop-out rate remains consistent up until 1993 when it falls to six per cent because of a shorter period for people to leave. Head of Administration David Hamilton-Rump said the figures compared well with other professions.
"A large proportion leave to become employed barristers, joining the CPS or things of that kind. Less than half leave to become non-practising."
He added that there was not a disproportionate number of woman or ethnic minorities leaving the Bar.
Amanda Tipples, chair of the Bar Council's young barristers' committee, said the drop-out rate was not an issue that had been brought to the committee's attention.
However, she said the committee was preparing to examine the conflict between a growing junior bar and an increasing shortage of work.
