The large visual design piece at the Bar Library building on Chichester Street has been installed just as both the UK and Ireland add their signatures to the world-first treaty.

The Council of Europe Convention is the first binding treaty dedicated to the protection of the legal profession and was drafted following concerns that lawyers are increasingly becoming the target of threats, harassment, and intimidation in the course of their professional activities.  

The Convention aims to strengthen the rule of law and, in so doing, the protection of legal professionals whose work is fundamental to the administration of justice and the protection of fundamental rights.

Bar Council chairperson Donal Lunny KC said: “Members of the Bar champion the rule of law, serving the administration of justice and the public interest. In exercising their duties both to their clients and the courts, barristers play a vital role in safeguarding the legal rights afforded to all citizens right across Northern Ireland.

“Northern Ireland’s troubled history demonstrates the gravity of threats to legal professionals.

“Regrettably in this jurisdiction, there remain occasions when the independence of Northern Ireland’s legal profession is undermined by the wrongful association of lawyers with the cause of their clients and through the deployment of lazy tabloid tropes concerning the work of barristers engaged in representing legally-aided clients.

“This visual piece is a proud display of our endorsement of the Convention, and the role which the profession of barrister plays in upholding the rule of law and enabling equal and fair access to justice for all citizens.”

The visual promoting the Convention and the protection of the legal profession will be in place at the Bar Library until mid-June.