Counsel Magazine

 THE Chairman of the Bar Council, Desmond Browne QC, welcomed the first meeting of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, part of the Commission on social mobility chaired by former Cabinet Minister the Rt Hon Alan Milburn MP.

The Bar continues to work hard to promote access for the able, regardless of background, and welcomes this opportunity to share best practice with other professions. Bar initiatives, which are ongoing, have included a partnership with the Social Mobility Foundation, which enables talented children from low income families to experience life at the Bar first hand. Barristers mentor children from such backgrounds and the profession is working with universities and schools to ensure that students have the necessary knowledge about the Bar on which to base career decisions. Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury chaired a working group which, in November 2007, made 57 recommendations to improve access to the Bar; these recommendations are being actively implemented to ensure that the barristers of the future are able to realise their dreams, regardless of background.