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Wrench spinner
Joined: Thu Oct 5th, 2017
Location: Leigh On Sea
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Do you know what and where the BAR association is?
Actually yes I do - my father was in the legal profession and many years ago I actually looked into becoming a barrister (but ended up being a sort of policeman)
However, BAR is NOT an acronym, although sometimes capitalised, it is a word and the Bar Council or Bar Association as it is sometimes called is the body that oversees the recruitment, training and regulation of Barristers in the UK - the Law Society does the same for Solicitors.
The "bar" is just part of the courtroom - that part reserved for the lawyers and officers of the court and from which the public is excluded - hence "barrister" is derived from practicing "at the bar". In the past there were actually physical bars on the top of the walls surrounding the central area and I have no doubt that barristers may well have leant on them while addressing the jury. They still exist in some places -
More generally it is just furniture that bars the way and separates the public from the lawyers.
And before anyone remarks that they practice at the alcoholic version of the bar - yes they do and the bar in a bar room has exactly the same purpose - it separates the public from the bar staff.
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