A barrister is a specialist courtroom advocate and independent adviser. Your solicitor runs the case day to day, evidence, correspondence, procedure and strategy, and briefs a barrister to appear in court, draft key documents such as pleadings and submissions, and give independent advice on prospects. In Australia barristers are sole practitioners and are normally briefed through your solicitor.

Earlier than most people expect. The highest-value moments are before proceedings start (advice on prospects and strategy), when the pleadings are drafted, before a mediation, and in the lead-up to the hearing. Bringing counsel in early usually costs less overall than repairing a case that has been pleaded or run the wrong way.

Senior Counsel (SC) or King’s Counsel (KC) are experienced barristers appointed in recognition of eminence, and are briefed in complex, high-value or high-risk matters. Junior counsel handle most day-to-day advocacy and drafting at a lower rate. In substantial cases a silk and a junior are briefed together, with the junior doing the detailed preparation.

No. You can be represented by your solicitor alone, or represent yourself. Whether counsel is worth it depends on the amount at stake, the complexity of the law and evidence, the level of the court, and who is acting on the other side. In appellate and complex commercial matters counsel is close to essential.

Usually under a fee agreement with your solicitor setting out an hourly rate, a daily hearing rate (often called a refresher), and fixed fees for defined work such as an advice or a pleading. Cancellation fees can apply if a hearing is vacated late. You should receive a costs disclosure and an estimate before the work starts.

Yes, in conference, that is the normal way instructions are taken and advice is given, with your solicitor present. Some barristers accept direct access briefs for limited work, but for litigation the solicitor and counsel model remains standard, because someone has to run the file, hold the evidence and manage the court process.

It is a written opinion from counsel on whether your claim or defence is likely to succeed, the realistic range of outcomes, and what it will take to get there. It is the single most useful document for deciding whether to sue, settle or stop, and it can also help protect your position on costs later.

Usually yes, and that continuity is valuable. The barrister who will run the hearing is best placed to explain the real risks at mediation and to draft settlement terms that are enforceable. Where availability or budget is an issue, a junior may cover interlocutory steps with a silk briefed for the trial.

Partly. Counsel’s fees are usually recoverable as a disbursement under a costs order, but only to the extent the court or costs assessor accepts it was reasonable to brief counsel at all, and that the fee was reasonable in amount. Briefing counsel in a small or straightforward matter may not be recoverable.

By matching the barrister to the case, not to the budget. We look at the field they actually practise in, commercial, employment, insolvency, regulatory or family. We check their experience in the particular court or tribunal, and their record against the other side’s counsel. Availability across the hearing window matters, and so does how they perform in a mediation room.