There is a version of legal practice in which the work stays at the office. For most barristers, that version does not exist. Emily Windsor, a chancery barrister and experienced judicial figure, has spoken openly about what self-employment at the Bar actually means in terms of how work occupies your mind — and why the sense of responsibility that comes with independent practice is both its defining feature and its most demanding one.
Windsor’s chancery practice brings her into contact with a wide variety of clients. Farmers in Cumbria. Companies that appear on supermarket shelves. The legal questions differ significantly, but the underlying task is the same across all of them: to think clearly through complex problems and find the best available solution. It is work that Windsor finds genuinely satisfying — but it is also work that does not conveniently stop when the working day ends.
Most barristers are self-employed members of a set of Chambers. The Chambers model offers a particular kind of professional life: independent practice with the social and practical infrastructure of a shared workplace. You are not employed by anyone, but you are not isolated either. Colleagues are available for support and conversation. The community is real, even if the practice is individual.
But Windsor is clear that the individual nature of that practice carries a real psychological weight. Solicitors tend to work in teams. At the Bar, most barristers handle their cases largely on their own — and that means there is no one else to shoulder the thinking. Windsor reflects that she thinks about her clients outside working hours more than she probably should. Cases travel home with her. They occupy evenings and weekends. That responsibility, she acknowledges, does weigh on her at times.
The pace of practice has also intensified over the course of her career. When Windsor first came to the Bar, written correspondence moved at a measured pace. A reply within a few days was unremarkable. That expectation has shifted considerably. The digital environment has created a culture of faster communication, and barristers operating independently feel that shift directly — there is no filter between them and the demands of their clients and instructing solicitors.
What technology has taken in terms of pace, it has partly returned in terms of freedom. The ability to work remotely is now a practical reality rather than an aspiration. Legal materials, case papers, and research resources are all available online. Windsor notes that anyone with responsibilities outside the office — caring duties, family commitments, or simply a preference for working outside the city — can now do so in a way that would have been impractical thirty years ago.
Windsor’s wider assessment of the self-employed Bar remains positive. She enjoys the variety of her work, the clients she meets, and the intellectual engagement that court brings. The responsibility is real — but so, clearly, is the reward.