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Diversity

Barristers come from all backgrounds and all walks of life.

The Bar Council is committed to equality of opportunity, and values the diversity of its membership. Discrimination on grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, religion or political persuasion is professional misconduct on the part of a barrister. The Bar Council has an “Equality Code for the Bar” which recommends good equal opportunity practice to chambers – particularly in relation to the recruitment of pupils and tenants and the allocation of work.

We are working to make sure that entry to the profession remains based on merit alone. The Bar Council and the Inns of Court are actively involved in reviewing funding and recruitment to the Bar to ensure that talented students are never disadvantaged by their background.

The Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Officers are able to provide advice on equal opportunities issues. If you wish to speak to the Equality and Diversity Advisers in confidence there is a confidential line (Tel: 020 7611 1310). Their role is to provide advice on any equality or discrimination matter to chambers wishing to improve their equality and diversity practice, to barristers with equality and diversity problems or queries, Practice Managers, clerks, pupils, BVC or law students. They work independently of all other Bar Council departments and report directly to the Chief Executive. 

From October 2004 the disability discrimination legislation has been extended to cover the recruitment of pupils and tenants in chambers. Reasonable adjustments should be made to working practices and/or features of premises occupied by barristers if a disabled tenant or pupil, or applicant for tenancy or pupillage, would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person. Members of the Bar Council’s Disability Committee are available to offer practical advice on developing a practice with a disability. They can be contacted through Equality and Diversity Advisers.

The Bar Council monitors pupils in chambers to ensure equality of opportunity.  The statistics below are from the 2005/2006 academic year and are taken from the Pupillage Supplementary Survey:

• 48% of pupils were male and 52% were female.  
• From information provided regarding parent’s occupations, we were able to determine that 83% of pupils came from families whose occupations placed them in the top two socio-economic classes (managerial and professional occupations).  
• 69% of pupils attended a university other than Oxford or Cambridge.  
• 65% of pupils had attended a Russell Group University (an Association of leading research intensive Universities), while 34% had not.  
• 57% of pupils had first obtained a Qualifying Law Degree.  
• The most common route into pupillage for those who had not completed a QLD was to apply as a transferring solicitor (56%).  
• Irrespective of whether pupils had studied a QLD, 86% of pupils had been awarded a first or upper-second degree.  
• 95% of pupils were BVC graduates, 57% had graduated in 2005 and 37% had attended ICLS. 

Number Of Barristers In Self-Employed Practice By Ethnic Group And Gender (Excluding Pupils) As At December 2006