The Harman Review: What next for a better Bar?

In September, the Bar Council published the independent review into bullying, harassment and sexual harassment at the Bar, chaired by Baroness Harriet Harman KC. Her report sets out 36 ‘decisive and radical’ recommendations to tackle systemic bullying, harassment and sexual harassment at the Bar.  

It was a thorough review. Over the course of a year, the former MP, Solicitor General, Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and Chair of Committees on Standards and Privileges in Parliament visited the six Circuits of England and Wales to speak to individuals, groups and organisations working in and around the Bar, and received hundreds of written submissions. Baroness Harman attended a Young Barristers’ Committee meeting where we spoke candidly about what we had experienced during our first few years as barristers.

Following publication of the report, I sit down with Baroness Harman and Barbara Mills KC to discuss the review, what happens next and what they hope it means for the future at the Bar.

When I ask if there are any aspects of the review she feels heartened by, Baroness Harman says it ‘came at a time when I feel the Bar is wanting to make the change – to end this problem’.

She continues: ‘I have been very impressed by how the Bar engages. Beyond their work and responsibilities as individuals, barristers have a keen sense of the part they play in the profession. I saw real commitment to give time [to the review] and to be open because of their dedication to the Bar. It’s admirable.’

Called to the Bar in 1990, Barbara was a junior female barrister of colour during a very different time. ‘I was always hypervigilant around people, constantly worried that anything I did might be seen as a grey area,’ she says. ‘Whenever I met someone new, my first thought was, “I don’t want them to think I want anything other than a professional relationship.” I put myself under a lot of pressure because of that.’

What would Barbara’s younger self think of the report and its conclusions? ‘Thank goodness somebody sees and hears me. That’s one less thing I need to worry about: someone with more power and influence than me has my back. Now all I need to do is the job.

‘I hope that’s how the junior members of the profession feel about the report today. We see you, we hear you, you are not imagining it – this is an issue,’ she says.

‘If someone did something that made me feel uncomfortable, I would often second guess and question myself. Is it me? Should that have happened? Should I mind? And there would be excuses like “Oh it’s only so and so, that’s what he does” or “Why don’t you have a laugh about it?”’

That’s why the review’s 36 recommendations aim to tackle what Baroness Harman describes as a culture of ‘collusive bystanding’ and ‘impunity’ by shifting the jeopardy from the victim to the perpetrator. I ask which three recommendations Baroness Harman thinks are particularly important. ‘Sanctions, the new Commissioner for Conduct and being tough on the protection of pupils,’ she replies.

‘Nobody is going to make a complaint if at the end of a very challenging process misconduct is found [but] the perpetrator receives a slap on the wrist and it is brushed under the carpet.

‘Sanctions must reflect the fact that bullying, harassment and sexual harassment are incompatible with membership of the Bar. The insistence in the report on tough sanctions includes tough sanctions on any members of the judiciary who are guilty of bullying. They should not be on the Bench either.’

The new Commissioner for Conduct will oversee reform, ensure that changes put forward are implemented, that advice is available, and that standards are set high and uniformly upheld.

‘Ancient institutions like the Bar find change hard. Therefore change being driven through by somebody in a position of authority and independence is really important,’ Baroness Harman explains.

One of the review’s recommendations includes banning sexual relations between barristers and pupils and anyone undertaking work experience in their chambers – which Baroness Harman accepts is ‘controversial’.

‘They are not there to be preyed on for sex by older members of Chambers,’ Baroness Harman says. ‘They are there to work and to make their way in the profession. Therefore, [I recommend] designating it as misconduct if a tenant in that chambers has sex with a pupil.’

What next for the Bar? Barbara tells me that the Bar Council is developing an action plan for next steps, which will be published and implemented this autumn and will include working with the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and judiciary. ‘Early in 2026, we also hope to have appointed the Commissioner for Conduct,’ she says, ‘who will then work with the organisations working in and around the Bar.’

The BSB has a new Chair, Professor Christopher Bones, who, Baroness Harman says, ‘needs to lead radical change’ within the regulator.

As for judges, the Baroness adds, there are ‘clear steps the judiciary needs to take’.

‘There are many programmes under way which should improve things,’ she continues. ‘The senior judiciary has got to make it clear this behaviour not acceptable. I welcome their response so far.’

We all want this to be a line in the sand. Real, radical change has been proposed – so where do the Chair of the Review and Chair of the Bar hope the profession will be in two to three years’ time?

‘No one wants a situation where talented people who are committed to a career at the Bar and could make a major contribution to the justice system are driven out by appalling misconduct,’ says Baroness Harman. ‘I hope the Bar will be able to carry on with the high standards that are expected of all. Those who are a threat to individuals and a threat to the reputation of the profession are either out of the Bar and judiciary, or they change their ways.’

Barbara hopes the culture will evolve to a point where the severity of this issue – and its ‘devastating impact’ on people – is no longer denied.

‘Baroness Harman makes a really powerful point: there has to be a shift in where the jeopardy lies,’ she continues. ‘We have to get to a place where a bully losing their job or the ability to progress through their career isn’t thought of as “too harsh”. When the report says perpetrators shouldn’t be allowed to advance in the profession or, depending on the type of behaviour, should be removed from office/disbarred, that should not get a gasp because everybody will know that that is what happens when you bully. Just as everyone knows that if you steal a tin of beans and are found guilty, you will lose your practising certificate.’

Every profession faces challenges, and the Bar is not alone in being affected by this problem. But as the Chair of the Bar says: ‘What defines a profession’s reputation is not the absence of problems but how it responds to them.’