BSB publishes new strategy to improve diversity, social mobility and access to justice in the barristers’ profession by 2019

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published a diversity strategy for the next two years after a report it commissioned found that much progress still needs to be made in opening up the barristers’ profession to people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

The BSB’s Diversity at the Bar report, published in January, showed that just 36.5% of barristers are women, while only 12.7% of barristers are black and minority ethnic (BAME). Previously, the Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption has angered feminists and campaigners by saying that it should take another 50 years to achieve gender equality at the Bar. However, the report also showed that some progress has been made; the proportions of new entrants to the profession (ie, pupil barristers) reflect the general UK population, with women making up 51.3% of current pupils and 16.3% of pupils being BAME.

Now the BSB’s new equality and diversity strategy aims to build on that progress over the next two years by removing barriers to progression and retention, and improving social mobility in the profession by 2019. The strategy also seeks to address the causes of discrimination at the Bar and improve the BSB’s understanding of the diverse experiences of students training to become barristers. In another welcome development, the strategy aims to improve access to justice for vulnerable people, with particular focus on young people and immigrants.    

Amit Popat, the BSB’s head of equality and access to justice, said: “Since our last strategy, we have further developed our evidence base, enabling us to continue to address equality and diversity issues. This new strategy uses that evidence to further a key theme in our Strategic Plan: improving diversity and enhancing equality in practice and culture at the Bar. The Bar and the legal system need to reflect the diverse society that they represent.”