In this blog, Commissioner for Conduct Dame Maria Miller discusses what's been achieved just 6 months into her role, including the agreement between the Bar Council and Bar Standards Board, a significant milestone in overcoming reporting barriers. This protocol, she explains, also means that the Commissioner can now come fully into operation...
Over the past few weeks, with my colleagues at the Bar Council, I have visited chambers in Birmingham and Sheffield and spent time in the Crown Courts at Snaresbrook and Southampton. What struck me was not the differences between the places I visited, but what they had in common: a deep-rooted professionalism.
In chambers, I saw barristers sharing expertise to tackle the demands of modern practice. In court, I watched barristers and judges working together, often under considerable pressure, to ensure cases were dealt with fairly and efficiently.
Those visits reminded me why the legal profession of England and Wales enjoys such an extraordinary reputation around the world. Our legal services sector is one of the United Kingdom’s most successful exports.
Yet one statistic stayed with me throughout those visits - around one in four barristers report having experienced or witnessed bullying or harassment over the past two years. Yet only a few hundred concerns are raised through the profession’s reporting mechanisms.
Now, I have been struck the commitment and integrity of those I have met; and the chambers and courts I visited did not feel like places defined by bullying and harassment. Quite the opposite. But that statistic raises an important point. If a quarter of barristers' experience or witness harassment or bullying, why do so few seek support or raise concerns? This seems at odds with the deep-rooted professionalism that pervades all aspects of work at the Bar. This was a central theme of the review undertaken by Harriet Harman, which was accepted in full by the Bar Council. The Commissioner for Conduct, the role I took up in January, is tasked with addressing that gap, not only by making reporting of harassment and bullying easier but also to help stop it happening in the first place.
Overcoming reporting barriers
For the role of Commissioner to be effective it needs to be built on solid foundations, so being able to draw on the expertise of the Bar Council, and agreeing a framework of operation with the Bar Standards Board, that clearly defines our respective responsibilities, have been priorities for me. The new framework and guidance, that recognise the Commissioner for Conduct, bring in some significant changes for every person at the Bar, so they need to be right. All of this was put in place on 16 June and means the office of Commissioner for Conduct can now come fully into operation.
Now reports of bullying or harassment can be made directly to me and my team through the Talk to Spot platform, operated by an independent specialist provider. It is a secure and confidential route for you to raise concerns or seek advice. Information reported through Talk to Spot is held separately from both the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board and will not be shared without permission, except in the rare circumstances where there is a safeguarding concern.
The new arrangements make it easier to come forward. Individuals who receive a disclosure from a colleague are no longer expected to make a report simply because someone has confided in them. Serious bullying is now recognised as potentially amounting to serious misconduct, and the reporting threshold has been reduced from reasonable belief to reasonable suspicion.
Alongside these changes, using the existing expertise of the Bar Council, I have launched new on-demand training and practical policies that chambers can download and adapt for their own use. I am also meeting members of the judiciary, to make sure as Commissioner I can play a full part in supporting the Lady Chief Justice’s focus on standards of behaviour in court.
So take a look at the resources on the bullying and harassment section of the Bar Council website, familiarise yourself with Talk to Spot and explore the FAQs, and sign up for some training so that you can support a colleague in need.
I want the standards for which the Bar is respected around the world to be the experience of everyone who works within it. The question is not whether most barristers will ever need the Commissioner for Conduct; it is whether every barrister wants to belong to a profession in which those who need support know where to find it, and feel able to ask.