It found access to the Bar, career progression, the most prestigious and best paying work, retention, and working environment were all influenced by ethnicity and structural discrimination.
A black woman publicly funded criminal junior barrister with the same level of experience as a white male junior would bill on average £18,700 a year less, and an Asian woman £16,400 less. At all levels, white male barristers earned the highest fee income, women earned less than men, and black women earned the least.
Speaking anonymously, barristers reported ‘there is a need to tone down your blackness’; and ‘it can be invaluable for individuals not to be the only person from an ethnic minority background in the room’.
Some 58% of black and Asian women at the Bar had personally experienced bullying and harassment at work or online, four times more than their white male counterparts. Barristers from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to be referred to the regulator.
While Asian judges make up 5% of the judiciary, only 1% of judges are black and 2% are from mixed ethnic backgrounds. Some of the six main practice areas have no QCs from ethnic minority backgrounds at all. In England and Wales in total there are only five black/black British female QCs, and 17 black/black British male QCs.
Barbara Mills QC and Simon Regis, co-chairs of the Group, said: ‘Quite rightly, practising barristers within the profession have expressed frustration over the amount of talk about race inequality at the Bar, and the lack of action and failure to bring about change.’
The report, Race at the Bar, made 23 detailed recommendations, on access, retention, progression and Bar culture. Recommended actions included measures on training, monitoring of work distribution, targeted career support, sponsorship and mentoring.
