This review considered the quality of advocacy in youth proceedings and the core components of effective advocacy, with a view to informing the Bar Standard Board's consideration of whether regulatory interventions are required to improve standards of youth advocacy. The research activities comprised a survey of 215 advocates; interviews with 96 stakeholders, including advocates, young people, youth court magistrates, and court-based YOT workers; and observations in four youth courts and five Crown Courts across England and Wales. The report concluded that the work of advocates in youth proceedings cannot be viewed in isolation from its wider legal, institutional and cultural context, and presents recommendations aimed at promoting more effective advocacy. These recommendations are focused on systems and structures of youth proceedings which could support better advocacy; court-based facilitators of advocacy; and training and learning opportunities for advocates
