The drive to improve diversity at the Bar made progress in 2016 but there is still a long way to go, according to the Bar Standard Board’s annual Diversity at the Bar report, published this week.
The report showed the practising Bar is still weighted towards men, who make up 63.4% of the Bar, and 86.3% of QCs. Some 51.3% of pupil barristers are women and 16.3% black or minority ethnic (BME), roughly matching the general population. 12.7% of the practising Bar is BME.
There were fractional increases in some areas—there are 0.6% more women barristers and 0.7% more women QCs.
Andrew Langdon QC, chairman of the Bar, said the Bar Council’s programmes include “mentoring women and BME barristers, providing leading equality and diversity advice to chambers, and promoting the Bar to state school students, but none would be possible without the data that underpins our work and guides new initiatives”.
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