I think the reasoning is you do everything and anything in defence of your client and then if they’re found guilty there can be no comeback. Remember the taxi rank system means that barristers don’t have a lot of options to choose their clients, especially in the specialist law fields like sex crimes.

I’ve watched quite a few videos by a barrister who does animal rights work, and he says that he often finds himself in court representing farmers against animal cruelty charges because he is one of the top animal law barristers and so if a client comes up in the taxi rank he has to take them and provide a full defence even though he himself is a vegan, animal rights activist.

Personally, I’m glad the barrister made that argument, because now it’s been rejected by a jury in a rape trial it very likely won’t be tried again.