Diversity at the Bar continues to grow but still needs improvement, BSB reports

The Bar is slowly getting more diverse, according to the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) annual report on Diversity at the Bar.

The report found that the diversity of barristers and pupils in England and Wales is gradually increasing, with more barristers disclosing the relevant demographic data. However, there is still some way to go until the Bar is as diverse as the society it serves.

Men still outnumber women in the profession, with women making up only 38% of practising Barristers – an increase of 0.6% from last year. This is in contrast to the majority (54.8%) of pupil barristers who are women, as has been the case for the past four years. At the other end of the profession, the number of female QCs increased marginally from 15.8% to 16.2%.

The percentage of BAME practising barristers increased 0.6% from December 2018, making BAME barristers in the UK 13.6% of the overall barrister population. Some 8.1% of QCs are BAME, with 4.5% not declaring their ethnicity. Again, this is a different story to the 19% of pupil barristers who are BAME.

The BSB’s head of equality and access to justice, Amit Popat said: “While the data follow a similar trend to those seen in recent years insofar as they show a slow and steady improvement in gender and ethnic diversity at the Bar, there is more to be done before the profession can be said fully to reflect the society it serves. One of the BSB’s key strategic aims is to encourage a more diverse legal profession, and these annual diversity reports provide a strong evidence base so that action can be taken. So, we urge all barristers to complete the diversity data questions when renewing their practising certificates for the year ahead.”

You can read the full Diversity at the Bar report on the BSB’s website.