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This month marks International Women’s Day on Saturday 8 March and the global theme this year is to ‘Accelerate Action’ for gender equality. There are events planned across the Bar, and I would like to encourage you to take part in the activities organised this year.
We have published a new report on gross earnings at the self-employed Bar by sex and practice area. The findings are disappointing, and this is certainly one area to accelerate action for gender equality. Junior women earn on average 77% of what junior men are earning. Women silks earn on average 67% of their male colleagues’ median gross earnings.
Earnings gaps are a problem at all levels across the Bar and in every area of practice. The gap tends to be lowest at 0-3 years and highest from mid-career level and at KC level. The gap is also unacceptably wide in commercial and Chancery practice. We know that when chambers undertake meaningful assessments, compare earnings and put appropriate interventions in place, this makes a difference and the progress that follows the interventions is tangible.
So I would encourage you to read our latest report; use the information to look at what’s happening in your own area and make use of the Bar Council resources such as the earnings monitoring toolkit, guidance for practice reviews and take up the training and support on offer. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
The Bar Council has commissioned an independent review on bullying and harassment that is being conducted by Harriet Harman KC and expected later this year. In the meantime, we’ve produced a new poster to raise awareness and promote Talk to Spot, our online tool for people working in and around the Bar to record incidents of inappropriate behaviour. Please download, print and use the poster as you wish.
We also want to support colleagues by making it easier for people to return to the Bar, switch practice area or move between the employed and self-employed work. That’s why the Bar Council has recently launched a new dedicated webpage for ‘movers and returners’ that includes helpful tips, support and guidance for barristers. There will be a movers and returners conference on Thursday 22 May hosted at Inner Temple and you can book your place here.
The Independent Sentencing Review report (part one) was published in February. We are pleased it echoes some of our concerns about the causes and scale of the problem facing the criminal justice system. Successive governments have wanted to appear ‘tough on crime’ and have increased sentences. The increasing demand has not been matched with investment or coherent planning, so we are now in a crisis and reform is urgently needed.
Prison is not always the right long-term solution for offenders or for society. The sentencing regime needs to aim to deliver a reduction in crime and to increase public safety and confidence in the justice system.
We will continue to engage with all the parties involved in the various government reviews, initiatives and reform programmes and we will continue to push for an independent fee review body as a way of stabilising the future for the young Bar.
This year I want to promote the professional principles that we all share. We adhere to the highest ethical principles and support the rule of law both at home and abroad. The Bar Council helps to find business development opportunities for barristers and cooperates with international legal associations and professional bodies.
We have recently backed the International Bar Association in denouncing the United States sanctions against the International Criminal Court because we want to promote the vital role of lawyers in society, defend the independence of our courts and champion the rule of law.
I have two favours to ask. First, during the authorisation to practise period, please subscribe and pay the Bar Representation Fee (BRF) because it provides vital funding for our work. In April, we will ask you to please complete the Barristers’ Working Lives survey as it provides the evidential basis for much of our work.
Barbara Mills KC is the 2025 Chair of the Bar. She is a specialist family practitioner at 4PB and former Co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Race Working Group.
This month marks International Women’s Day on Saturday 8 March and the global theme this year is to ‘Accelerate Action’ for gender equality. There are events planned across the Bar, and I would like to encourage you to take part in the activities organised this year.
We have published a new report on gross earnings at the self-employed Bar by sex and practice area. The findings are disappointing, and this is certainly one area to accelerate action for gender equality. Junior women earn on average 77% of what junior men are earning. Women silks earn on average 67% of their male colleagues’ median gross earnings.
Earnings gaps are a problem at all levels across the Bar and in every area of practice. The gap tends to be lowest at 0-3 years and highest from mid-career level and at KC level. The gap is also unacceptably wide in commercial and Chancery practice. We know that when chambers undertake meaningful assessments, compare earnings and put appropriate interventions in place, this makes a difference and the progress that follows the interventions is tangible.
So I would encourage you to read our latest report; use the information to look at what’s happening in your own area and make use of the Bar Council resources such as the earnings monitoring toolkit, guidance for practice reviews and take up the training and support on offer. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
The Bar Council has commissioned an independent review on bullying and harassment that is being conducted by Harriet Harman KC and expected later this year. In the meantime, we’ve produced a new poster to raise awareness and promote Talk to Spot, our online tool for people working in and around the Bar to record incidents of inappropriate behaviour. Please download, print and use the poster as you wish.
We also want to support colleagues by making it easier for people to return to the Bar, switch practice area or move between the employed and self-employed work. That’s why the Bar Council has recently launched a new dedicated webpage for ‘movers and returners’ that includes helpful tips, support and guidance for barristers. There will be a movers and returners conference on Thursday 22 May hosted at Inner Temple and you can book your place here.
The Independent Sentencing Review report (part one) was published in February. We are pleased it echoes some of our concerns about the causes and scale of the problem facing the criminal justice system. Successive governments have wanted to appear ‘tough on crime’ and have increased sentences. The increasing demand has not been matched with investment or coherent planning, so we are now in a crisis and reform is urgently needed.
Prison is not always the right long-term solution for offenders or for society. The sentencing regime needs to aim to deliver a reduction in crime and to increase public safety and confidence in the justice system.
We will continue to engage with all the parties involved in the various government reviews, initiatives and reform programmes and we will continue to push for an independent fee review body as a way of stabilising the future for the young Bar.
This year I want to promote the professional principles that we all share. We adhere to the highest ethical principles and support the rule of law both at home and abroad. The Bar Council helps to find business development opportunities for barristers and cooperates with international legal associations and professional bodies.
We have recently backed the International Bar Association in denouncing the United States sanctions against the International Criminal Court because we want to promote the vital role of lawyers in society, defend the independence of our courts and champion the rule of law.
I have two favours to ask. First, during the authorisation to practise period, please subscribe and pay the Bar Representation Fee (BRF) because it provides vital funding for our work. In April, we will ask you to please complete the Barristers’ Working Lives survey as it provides the evidential basis for much of our work.
The age of criminal responsibility, extreme weather and conflict resolution – plus, new protocol for reporting bullying at the Bar
By David Green
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, examines the forensic science underpinning hair drug testing, its evidential scope and limitations, and why it remains the gold standard for evidencing patterns of drug use in family proceedings
Unlocking your aged debt to fund your tax in one easy step. By Philip N Bristow
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, discusses the upcoming changes to pensions and Inheritance Tax and the potential impact on your financial future
Save the Children UK is the latest charity to benefit from a £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
Barrister apprenticeships – shortly to provide the fourth pathway to the Bar – are an ideal opportunity to support local talent and ‘grow your own’, say Tim Coulson and Dr Jane Dennehy
Solicitor General Ellie Reeves KC MP discusses her decade as a trade union and employment law barrister, the demands of life as a Law Officer and the number one priority shaping her work. Interview by Anthony Inglese CB
A decade of reviews and research has disrupted accepted thinking in the search for causality. Suicides following abuse have overtaken domestic homicides. Is the law keeping up? Professor Susan Edwards KC (Hon) examines recent cases and the obstacles to successful prosecution
Why every major sporting event needs an anti-corruption policy. By Louis Weston
At least not that way, says Richard Paige
