Diversity lacking on government panels

Despite the members of the Bar broadly reflecting the ethnic makeup of the population in England and Wales, members of government legal panels—by which 3,267 barristers are employed—are disproportionately White. This is evident across the board, but becomes particularly stark at the highest levels of seniority: only three out of 77 panel silks are from ethnic minority backgrounds, and there are no Black barristers or Asian women barristers, and very few Asian men, on any of the KC panels. While White women are well-represented on panels, the report found that they do not always get equal access to the highest quality work available.

The report’s findings are disappointing given the Bar Council’s recommendations following its 2021 Race at the Bar report, which suggested monitoring panel selection with the aim of encouraging more barristers from ethnic minority backgrounds. As a result of its latest findings, the Bar Council has asked the government to commit to monitoring panel selection, work allocation and income by protected characteristics, and to publish the results within the next 12 months.

Chair of the Bar, Mark Fenhalls KC, said: ‘The findings of this report act as a stark reminder that work still needs to be done to ensure equality of opportunity at the Bar. Government legal panels have a key role to play to ensure that career advancement is open to all. 

‘We have been working closely with stakeholders across the government panels identified in this report to address future monitoring and selection practices. We know from our work with the CPS that effective work is underway to address the disparity between men and women at senior levels, and we are keen to see this good practice on diversity spread across all government panels.’