Brimelow: Women pitch their fees lower than men
The already significant earnings gap between male and female barristers has widened over the last four years, according to Bar Council research.
It said the gap was present from the start of a barrister’s career, widened in mid-career and narrowed again amongst senior juniors, before jumping up again among silks.
While between 2021 and 2024 median earnings at the Bar increased for both sexes, women’s income generally grew by less than men’s.
“This means the gap is still increasing,” it warned.
The Bar Council’s review of earnings data from 2024 showed that women were bringing in less than men across all experience levels at the self-employed Bar – among juniors, women’s median fee income of £124,000 was 76% of men’s (£162,800), and was worse among KCs, at 72% (£520,100 compared with £374,500). The latter was, however, two percentage points better than in 2021.
The overall figures hid trends within them. For example, while there was a 17% gap between the average income of the lowest-earning KCs, it doubled to 34% among the top-earning silks –£1,041,000 versus £687,000.
The report said women with up to three years of PQE were earning 17% less than men. This gap widened and peaked at the 11-15 and 16-20 PQE bands, when it hit 28%.
It then shrank among ‘senior juniors’. In the 21-25 PQE band, it was 22%, and then 15% at the 26+ PQE band.
“If a barrister reaches silk, both men and women see a significant increase in their earnings, yet the earnings gap between men and women widens again,” the report recorded.
There were earnings gaps in every area of practice. The widest were in commercial and Chancery practice, where women at 11-15 years PQE were earning 63% of their male counterparts.
At 22%, there is a lower representation of women in commercial and Chancery than in any other of the main areas of practice considered in the report.
The report recommended that the Bar Council continue to monitor earnings, and work with clients and chambers “to encourage the ongoing monitoring of opportunities and promote fair distribution of work”.
Chambers also had to “ensure they understand the underlying causes of any disparities they find and put in place effective measures to ensure members get fair access to work, are able to charge effectively for the work they do, and get the support they need to build and sustain their practice”.
Writing on LinkedIn, Bar Council vice-chair Kirsty Brimelow KC said differences by gender and ethnicity in incomes were smaller at the employed Bar and outside London.
“Anecdotally, and also my experience, if women are asked to suggest a fee on a case, they often pitch lower than men.”
She said “remedies include looking at work instruction before it gets to chambers, and so we should look at how better to work with the Law Society to address the issue.”
The Bar Council has been monitoring earnings since 2020 and has a range of support, such as a toolkit for chambers to audit earnings, and both a guide and training on fair access to work.