Bullying, harassment & discrimination at the Bar

The poor behaviour ranged across the profession and involved judges, barristers, chambers’ staff, solicitors and court staff. Incidents ranged from pejorative or demeaning language to intimidating or bullying behaviour, unwanted attention, unwanted physical contact, sexual harassment and serious abuse, inappropriate comments, online abuse, and sexist, racist and ableist behaviours.

Bar Council research published last week, ‘Bullying, harassment and discrimination at the Bar 2023’, found 44% of respondents have experienced or observed such behaviour while working either in person or online (up from 38% in 2021 and 31% in 2017).

Of the 1,233 barristers who reported experiencing or observing bullying and/or harassment, the majority (53%) reported a member of the judiciary as the person responsible, followed by a more senior barrister (31%) or a barrister at the same level (14%).

Women, people of colour, younger and more junior members of the Bar were most affected by bullying, harassment and discrimination. Barristers with caring responsibilities or a disability also reported being disproportionately affected.

The perpetrators of bad behaviour were generally in a position of power or influence, and included judges, more senior barristers, senior clerks and practice managers. Fear of repercussions was the primary reason given for not reporting incidents. In particular, some people were told that if they complained they would never work at the Bar again.

The data was drawn from the biennial survey, Barristers’ working lives, as well as from reports to Talk to Spot and calls to the Bar’s helplines.

Nick Vineall KC, Chair of the Bar Council, said the Bar Council was committed to addressing the problems and has commissioned a review, to be established by spring 2024 and report back by spring 2025, to identify strategies to curb the abuse.

Sam Townend KC, Chair-Elect of the Bar Council, said: ‘The Bar Council identifies bullying, harassment and discrimination as a systemic issue and we hope the judiciary, clerks, chambers professionals and the Inns will work together with us to facilitate meaningful change.’