Following a review of the Equality Rules in the BSB Handbook, we conducted a public consultation last September which sought views on proposals to address the barriers to equality of opportunity within the profession.
We are grateful for all the responses we received and to those who engaged in roundtables and discussions to determine how best to achieve the objectives and desired outcomes we share. It was a valuable deliberative process and there was a strongly stated commitment to promoting equality of opportunity in the profession. We now want to build on that commitment.
There continue to be barriers to entry, retention and progression for those who share certain protected characteristics and those who are from certain socio-economic backgrounds. Whilst the representation of female barristers, barristers from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, and barristers with a disability has grown at the Bar, these groups remain underrepresented at senior levels. Female barristers and barristers from minoritised backgrounds earn less on average than their White male counterparts even when allowing for specialism, seniority and geography.
A proposal to change a Core Duty, to introduce a duty to “act in a way that advances equality, diversity and inclusion” when practising or otherwise providing legal services attracted much of the attention in the consultation. We also propose to take a more outcomes focused approach to its Equality Rules, but to retain prescriptive requirements where necessary for transparency and accountability.
The consultation responses have given us an opportunity to reflect on our objectives and how best to achieve them in the most proportionate manner. The proposals were based in our statutory objectives and aimed at tackling well-evidenced problems in the profession. In order to achieve our objectives, we want to work collaboratively with the profession to address some of the barriers to equality of opportunity.
We recognise how important this consultation has been and have considered a range of different options, including changes to the rules and how we use our full regulatory toolkit. We have concluded that we can make significant progress by working with the profession and others to achieve our desired outcomes. For now, we will focus our efforts on developing a strategy for the sector that draws on all of our regulatory tools and invites the collaboration of others. We therefore will not be moving forward at this time with the proposals on which we consulted.
We will focus instead on measuring progress towards outcomes and collaborating with stakeholders to support the Bar to progress in this area. We will set clear expectations for the progress that we want to see over the next five years. This will identify the regulatory tools that we will use including producing clear guidance, more proactive use of our supervision function to support chambers and enforcement action where needed. There will be a clear plan for monitoring progress and evaluating impact, with a commitment to revisit our rules and guidance where necessary. We remain determined to see a step change in progress in encouraging a diverse legal profession.
Kathryn Stone OBE, Chair, The Bar Standards Board said:
“The Board has been impressed by the quality and thoughtfulness of the response to our consultation from the profession. It underlines the scope for a collaborative, rather than rule-based, approach to achieve shared objectives. A profession that puts equality of opportunity at its heart can better reflect the society it serves and better support barristers and clients. We invite the profession to join us in developing a shared strategy to promote equality of opportunity.”
Mark Neale, Director General, The Bar Standards Board said:
“The challenge here is a practical one, not an ideological one: to ensure that merit, not background, determines success at the Bar. Despite progress, there is still unequal opportunity to join and progress at the Bar for female barristers, barristers from minoritised backgrounds and disabled barristers. At root, this requires a change of culture. Such a change requires the support and active collaboration of the profession. We are committed to working constructively to make progress in areas like this where we have shared objectives.”
