Legal Complaints and Regulation Act (Northern Ireland) 2016

Enforcement of requirements to provide information or produce documents

24.—(1) This section applies where the Bar Complaints Committee is of the opinion that a person (“the defaulter”) has failed to comply with a requirement imposed under section 22.

(2) The Committee may certify the defaulter’s failure to comply with the requirement to the court.

(3) Where the Committee certifies a failure to the court under subsection (2), the court may enquire into the case.

(4) If the court is satisfied that the defaulter has failed without reasonable excuse to comply with the requirement, it may deal with the defaulter as if that person were in contempt.

(5) Subsection (6) applies where the defaulter is a barrister.

(6) The Committee may not certify the defaulter’s failure to the court until a report by the Committee has been made as required by section 23(2) and the Committee is satisfied—

(a) that the General Council of the Bar has been given a reasonable opportunity to take action in respect of the defaulter’s failure; and

(b) that the defaulter has continued to fail to produce the documents or provide the information to which the requirement under section 22 related.

(7) In this section “the court” means the High Court.