Criminal law barrister Richard Atkins QC has been named as next year's Vice-Chair of the Bar, the body that represents all 16,000 barristers in England & Wales. Andrew Walker QC, the current Vice-Chair, has been confirmed as the 2018 Chair of the Bar. He will take over from the current Chair, Andrew Langdon QC, on 1 January 2018.  

Richard Atkins QC, of St Philips Chambers, was called to the Bar in 1989 and took silk in 2011. He practises in crime and regulatory law (Health and Safety and Trading Standards) as well as in the VAT tribunal. He has been a Recorder since 2005 and a Mental Health Tribunal Judge since 2014. He is Leader of the Midland Circuit and a Legal Chair for the Financial Reporting Council Disciplinary Tribunal. Richard became a member of Bar Council in 2003 and was Chair of the Bar Council's Member Services Board from 2010 until 2016. Since 2016, he has been Co-Chair of the Bar Council's Bar Representation Board. In 2014, Richard chaired the Annual Bar Conference. He is a Bencher at Gray's Inn. Outside the Bar, Richard was a Governor of the Coventry School Foundation (King Henry VIII and Bablake schools in Coventry) from 1999 until 2011, becoming Chair of the Governors from 2011-2014. 

Andrew Walker QC, of Maitland Chambers, was called to the Bar in 1991 and took silk in 2011. His professional practice is focused on property, company and commercial disputes and professional negligence claims in a wide range of business sectors.  He was a directly-elected member of the Bar Council for 12 years, and before his election as Vice-Chair he was Chair of the Ethics Committee and Vice-Chair of the Law Reform Committee. He is a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and was awarded the Bar Pro Bono Award in 2009 for some of his work with the homelessness charity, Shelter. 

Lorinda Long will remain as Treasurer of the Bar Council for 2018, her fourth year in the role. Lorinda is a financial services specialist having worked as an in-house transactional lawyer, Head of Legal and General Counsel for a number of leading institutions such as NatWest, Credit Suisse, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds. She has provided consultancy services to various organisations including Barclays and MetLife before joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2016.  

Notes to Editors

Further information is available from the Bar Council Press Office on 020 7222 2525 and [email protected].

The Bar Council represents barristers in England and Wales. It promotes: 

  • The Bar's high quality specialist advocacy and advisory services

  • Fair access to justice for all

  • The highest standards of ethics, equality and diversity across the profession, and

  • The development of business opportunities for barristers at home and abroad.

The General Council of the Bar is the Approved Regulator of the Bar of England and Wales. It discharges its regulatory functions through the independent Bar Standards Board