The BSB mooted the amendment to core duty 8 in the Bar Handbook last September, in its consultation on the proposed amendments to the equality rules. However, the Bar Council opposed the change.
Dropping the proposal this week, the BSB said it now intends to work with the profession and will ‘set clear expectations for the progress that we want to see over the next five years’.
Barbara Mills KC, chair of the Bar, said: ‘We had significant concerns that a positive duty, as proposed by the BSB, would have taken us backwards.
‘We explained that a change to core duty 8 would lack the clarity needed for barristers to be able to comply. The proposals were not only impractical to implement, but they would also have been open to costly legal challenge that would hinder progress on EDI initiatives.
'We therefore welcome the BSB’s reflection on our concerns and the decision not to change but to maintain the current core duty—a clear and definitive duty not to discriminate.'
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