The Supreme Court

A practitioner at the Bar of Ireland who wishes to be called to the Bar of Northern Ireland is required to produce a Certificate of Good Standing in support of his or her application.

As a matter of course, until 29 September 2020, the Chief Justice certified the good standing of Irish barristers making such applications based on information received from the Council of The Bar of Ireland. Following a review undertaken in respect of the reciprocal arrangements in place in other jurisdictions in relation to such requests, the Chief Justice has put in place the following procedure that will apply to all applications received by the Office of Chief Justice from practitioners, irrespective of whether they are members of the Law Library or not.

This procedure took effect on 24 March 2021 and was updated on 15 March 2023 to reflect clarification received by the Office of the Chief Justice that those wishing to be called to the Bar of England and Wales do not require a Certificate of Good Standing from the Chief Justice and may submit a letter from The Council of The Bar of Ireland or the Legal Services Regulatory Authority as appropriate.

Queries in relation to this procedure can be emailed to [email protected] 

 Procedure for requesting a certificate

• Practitioners requesting a Certificate of Good Standing from the Chief Justice of Ireland in order to be called to the Bar of another jurisdiction are now required to submit their application in writing, either by post or by email. Applications submitted by email should be sent to [email protected] titled 'Application for Certificate of Good Standing' in the subject line.
• The application is to be submitted in sufficient time but no later than 10 working days before the date for which the certificate is to be provided to the applicant.
• An applicant who is a member of the Law Library is required to submit a Certificate of Good Standing from The Council of The Bar of Ireland along with his/her application. An application will not be considered until this certificate is provided.
• An applicant who is not or is no longer a member of the Law Library at the date of the application is required to submit written confirmation from the Legal Services Regulatory Authority to the effect that the applicant has not been the subject of an adverse finding(s) of professional misconduct from the period between 7 October 2019 to a date not exceeding one month from the date upon which the application is made. An application will not be considered until such time as this written confirmation from the Legal Services Regulatory Authority is provided.
• The applicant is responsible for ensuring compliance with the foregoing requirements, and the Office of the Chief Justice bears no responsibility for any delays arising from any application submitted.