On December 4th, 2024, The UK Bar Council published a report revealing that black barristers are less likely to secure immediate tenancy than their white counterparts. This is indicative of the systemic challenges that barristers from minority communities, especially blacks and Asians, face.

The 2024 report was a follow-up to the 2021 Race at the Bar: A Snapshot Report published by the Bar Council. The Council aimed to assess how much progress had been made since the recommendations in its 2021 report, which showed that barristers from ethnic minority groups faced systemic obstacles to building sustainable careers.

Race at the Bar Report of 2021

The first report was commissioned to make recommendations for the Council and other stakeholders on tackling inequality at the Bar, as well as among self-employed barristers. Data in the 2021 report evidenced that barristers from ethnic minority groups, especially Asian and black women, face systemic challenges to building a rewarding and sustainable career at the Bar. Other key findings were as follows:

Law students from ethnic minority groups are less likely to get pupillage than their white peers;
Asian and black women at the Bar are four times more likely to experience harassment and bullying at work than white men;
Women earn, on average, less than men. Black men earn less than white men. Asian and black women earn less than Asian and black men, and black women earn the least;
Asian and black barristers are under-represented in taking Silk, that is, becoming King’s Counsel (KC), previously Queen’s Counsel (QC). As of 2021, there were only five black British female QCs and 17 male black British QCs in Wales and England. There were nine female and 16 male Silks of mixed ethnicity. This compared to 286 white female and 1,303 white male QCs; and
Asian, black and other ethnic minority candidates were less successful in getting judicial appointments. Compared to white candidates, recommendation rates from the eligible pool of candidates were estimated to be 73%, 36% and 44%, respectively.

In its 2021 report, the Council recommended that all Bar-based stakeholders identify and publish goals for improving diversity and timelines for achieving them. The Council stressed the need for programmes to support the access, retention and progress of barristers from ethnic minority groups.

The Council also promised to analyse data on barristers from ethnic minority groups annually to record progress. In honour of this promise, the Council published its recent follow-up report on December 4th, 2024.

The 2024 Race at the Bar: Three Years On Report

The new report, Race at the Bar: Three Years On, indicates that the overall diversity of the Bar has been improving year by year. There has been some progress on access, retention, progress and culture. However, the Council cautioned that more work is needed, particularly regarding growing the experience of black barristers, aspiring barristers, pupils and students.

A survey of the organisations and chambers that responded to the 2021 report showed that 92% had taken action on at least one of the recommendations made in the first report. Attitudes have changed, with widespread acceptance that there are grave systemic and cultural challenges around race.

However, the 2024 report found that progress is still limited with respect to:

Earnings disparities between barristers of differing ethnic backgrounds;
The success rates of applicants in pupillage, silk and judicial appointments; and
In the disproportionate experience of harassment and bullying of black and other minority ethnic barristers.

For the first time, the Council considered two new data sets: earnings and pupil-to-tenancy conversion rates. Although the pupil-to-tenancy rates are similar for differing ethnic groups, transitions are easier for white pupils than their black peers. White pupils are more likely to be offered immediate tenancy where they train.

Below is a summary of the key findings of the 2024 report:

Overall, ethnic diversity has improved at the Bar over the last three years, with representation of minority groups increasing by 0.5% per year to 16.9% of the Bar as of December 2024;
Black barristers are less likely to secure immediate tenancy, but they are more likely to enter a probationary tenancy and most likely to become squatters;
In all practice areas, black and Asian barristers are earning less than their white peers;
The number of silks or KCs/QCs from minority groups has increased since 2021, with eight black female silks, 102 Asian silks and 53 silks from mixed ethnicities. However, the total number of black silks remains at a low of 26;
65% of white barristers said work was fairly distributed in their chambers, compared to 43% of barristers from minority groups; and
The leadership at the Bar has become more ethnically diverse at national and circuit levels.

The recent report made recommendations for organisations, chambers and the Council as follows:

Supporting networks of ethnic minority barristers;
Mandatory specialist race training and EDI training for all Bar members and chamber employees;
Building an inclusive culture by supporting equality and diversity officers (EDOs);
Enhancing collection and analysis of data by chambers, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Bar Council and King’s Counsel Appointments; and
Monitoring income and work distribution by ethnicity and formalising practice reviews.

To support the UK Bar, the Council has launched a new race equality toolkit that will help break down the actions organisations and chambers can take. The Bar Standards Board also factored in the recommendations in the report when formulating equality rules.

“This progress report shows that things are gradually improving. We all need to increase our efforts, collect and analyse data and take effective actions to ensure the meaningful impact of the Bar’s culture so that every barrister has support and the opportunity to thrive,” noted Sam Townend KC, Chair of the Bar, when launching the report.

Source: The Law Society Gazette

References:

The Bar Council

2021 Race at the Bar: A Snapshot Report

2024 Race at the Bar: Three Years On

Race Equality Toolkit

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