Barristers
Credibility at Bar linked to “masculine heterosexuality”
Macho masculinity and the alignment of what is generally considered professional at the Bar with heterosexuality, is creating problems for sexual minority barristers.
Non-binary barrister: “Judges can be ignorant of gender neutral address”
A barrister who identifies as non-binary sometimes has to endure a judge’s ignorance about how to address them correctly, a meeting heard this week.
Aspiring barrister subjected to “extreme discrimination” launches disability group
An organisation aimed at making the Bar more accessible to disabled people and improving the diversity of the judiciary was launched last week.
Clerks “must play bigger role in fair work allocation”
Barristers’ clerks must step up and ensure that both work coming in and marketing efforts by chambers are done with an eye to equality in the way they are distributed, a seminar heard this week.
Retention improving at the Bar as average age of barristers rises
The proportion of barristers aged over 50 has tripled over the past 30 years, while the number of pupils has shrunk by almost 30%, research by the Bar Standards Board has found.
Discrimination the “sole cause” of paucity of Black QCs
Discrimination is the “sole identifiable cause” for the paucity of Black barristers, particularly at QC level, a co-chair of the Bar Council’s race working group has argued.
Only 10% of new BPTC graduates found pupillage due to Covid
Only 10% of students who successfully completed the Bar professional training course last year had started a pupillage by the end of March 2021, according to new figures.
CPS diversity declaration rule to put chambers under spotlight
The CPS is to use a new annual declaration by panel barristers of any protected characteristics to analyse the proportionality of case allocation and fee payments within chambers.
Public access barrister suspended over “hostile emails” to solicitors
A public access barrister who engaged in “unnecessarily hostile and antagonistic correspondence” with opposing solicitors has been suspended for six months.
Barrister and ABS owner launches legal recruitment firm
A practising barrister and sole director of an alternative business structure has added a third string to his bow by launching a legal recruitment firm.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
