*/
The Bar Standards Board welcomes Sally Hawkins, as the new Chair of its Equality and Diversity Committee and Declan O'Dempsey as the Vice Chair.
Sally Hawkins is an equalities consultant. She has assisted some of the UK’s foremost public services and private companies in the development of policies and practices that aim to overcome discrimination and disadvantage.
Sally also has considerable experience of governance and the development and implementation of professional standards. She is currently a lay member of the General Medical Council and of the Board of the Legal Complaints Service and she is the independent chair of Lewisham’s Standards Committee. She was a member of the Police Complaints Authority and an Independent Director of the Banking Code Standards Board. Declan O'Dempsey is a barrister at Cloisters who specialises in employment, discrimination, public and regulatory law. Declan has particular expertise in relation to the application of the Equality Duties.
His discrimination practice includes advising and representing in goods and services cases, especially the newer areas such as religion and belief. He has written extensively on age and disability discrimination. He has been commissioned as a co-author of the forthcoming Statutory Code on Discrimination in Goods Facilities and Services and Public Functions from the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. He was formerly a vice chair of the Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Committee and chair of the Disability Sub-Group.
His discrimination practice includes advising and representing in goods and services cases, especially the newer areas such as religion and belief. He has written extensively on age and disability discrimination. He has been commissioned as a co-author of the forthcoming Statutory Code on Discrimination in Goods Facilities and Services and Public Functions from the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. He was formerly a vice chair of the Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Committee and chair of the Disability Sub-Group.
The Bar Standards Board welcomes Sally Hawkins, as the new Chair of its Equality and Diversity Committee and Declan O'Dempsey as the Vice Chair.
Sally Hawkins is an equalities consultant. She has assisted some of the UK’s foremost public services and private companies in the development of policies and practices that aim to overcome discrimination and disadvantage.
Sally also has considerable experience of governance and the development and implementation of professional standards. She is currently a lay member of the General Medical Council and of the Board of the Legal Complaints Service and she is the independent chair of Lewisham’s Standards Committee. She was a member of the Police Complaints Authority and an Independent Director of the Banking Code Standards Board. Declan O'Dempsey is a barrister at Cloisters who specialises in employment, discrimination, public and regulatory law. Declan has particular expertise in relation to the application of the Equality Duties.
Chair of the Bar reflects on 2025
Q&A with criminal barrister Nick Murphy, who moved to New Park Court Chambers on the North Eastern Circuit in search of a better work-life balance
Revolt Cycling in Holborn, London’s first sustainable fitness studio, invites barristers to join the revolution – turning pedal power into clean energy
Rachel Davenport, Co-founder and Director at AlphaBiolabs, reflects on how the company’s Giving Back ethos continues to make a difference to communities across the UK
By Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs
AlphaBiolabs has made a £500 donation to Sean’s Place, a men’s mental health charity based in Sefton, as part of its ongoing Giving Back initiative
Little has changed since Burns v Burns . Cohabiting couples deserve better than to be left on the blasted heath with the existing witch’s brew for another four decades, argues Christopher Stirling
Six months of court observation at the Old Bailey: APPEAL’s Dr Nisha Waller and Tehreem Sultan report their findings on prosecution practices under joint enterprise
Despite its prevalence, autism spectrum disorder remains poorly understood in the criminal justice system. Does Alex Henry’s joint enterprise conviction expose the need to audit prisons? asks Dr Felicity Gerry KC
With automation now deeply embedded in the Department for Work Pensions, Alexander McColl and Alexa Thompson review what we know, what we don’t and avenues for legal challenge
Why were some Caribbean nations given such dramatically different constitutional frameworks when they gained independence from the UK? Dr Leonardo Raznovich examines the controversial savings clause