Responding to the annual Bar Standards Board (BSB) Diversity at the Bar report, Chair of the Bar Council, Amanda Pinto QC, said: “The Bar is becoming more diverse, as the BSB’s recent report highlights. The Bar Council wants to accelerate progress, so we are pushing practical initiatives to make the profession more representative of the society we serve, from the bottom to the top. These include pressing for a less expensive Bar course for entry to the profession, improving the fair allocation of work, mentoring and programmes designed to encourage professional development, especially for those from non-traditional backgrounds. As well as working with the BSB to identify and address the barriers to increasing diversity, this year the Bar Council is launching the future leaders programme aimed at ensuring that leaders across the Bar are more reflective of society at large. In fact, in 2020, we have more female entrants and more female leaders at the Bar than ever before and that is a trend we wish to accelerate and replicate for greater diversity of all sorts throughout the profession.”
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