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The Bar Council is committed to changing attitudes on accessing support for wellbeing at the Bar. It’s not good enough just to wait until someone becomes unwell or has a crisis. A more positive and proactive approach helps us all to maintain a successful practice and thrive at the Bar.
Maintaining your professional wellbeing is a core skill and should be given the same non-negotiable status as having an accountant or getting insurance. Hearing from others working in this area, both nationally and internationally, has been inspiring to me and we need to take wellbeing to the next level.
The Bar Council wants to facilitate better practice habits, enable people to spot early warning signs and develop skills to support each other. I know this is an ambitious project made so much easier by the support and encouragement I have received across the Bar.
The reflective practice pilots are now under way, and I am pleased to announce we will be organising a wellbeing event towards the end of this year, so please look out for the launch, coming soon.
In our initial response to Part I of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts we have welcomed the focus on diversion from the criminal justice system but warned against proposals to remove jury trials.
The profession sees juries as a fundamental part of our justice system, and it is the failure to invest properly in the justice system over decades that has led to the crisis we see in the criminal courts today. On a practical level, it remains unclear how the existing resources would be steered to meet the demands of the proposed new Crown Court Bench Division.
We recognise the need for reform to tackle the backlogs and welcome the report’s focus on out of court disposals and greater investment in rehabilitation programmes to reduce the number of cases going into the Crown Court. We put forward these suggestions in our submission to the review and they should be considered alongside David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review. We will provide a full response to the 45 recommendations in due course.
Last month, the Ministry of Justice published the 2025 judicial diversity statistics. The report finds that since 2015, the number of judges from different minority ethnic backgrounds has increased from 7% to 12%, but the number of Black judges remains at 1%.
We are told there is gradual progress being made but it’s too slow and not good enough. The representation of Black judges has remained at 1% across the judiciary for a decade with only gradual increases of people from other minority ethnic backgrounds. We want to see real progress being made so that our judiciary reflects the diverse communities we live in.
We are concerned that candidates from a minority ethnic background, and in particular Black lawyers, are disproportionately ruled out at each step of the recruitment process. We have been told that this data is not statistically relevant, but we disagree. It is relevant and requires scrutiny.
Initiatives such as the Pre-Application Judicial Education Programme, specialist Bar Association and Circuit judicial outreach initiatives and our judicial appointments mentoring programme continue to offer support and insight, but the statistics suggest much more needs to be done.
The Inns of Court, Bar Council and Law Society hosted an LGBTQ+ Pride event at Inner Temple to mark our joint and continuing commitment to inclusivity, visibility and unity across the legal world. Barristers have participated in Pride celebrations for many years, and this year was a timely reminder to renew our efforts to achieve equality, diversity and inclusion at work, in society and globally.
The Bar Council and Commonwealth Lawyers Association have come together and called on the President and government of Ghana to reinstate Chief Justice Gertrude A E S Torkornoo. We are concerned by her suspension from office and government actions that have impacted on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.
I was pleased to join Circuit Leaders and members of the Bar Council’s staff and working groups to attend a Number 10 reception in July hosted by the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood MP. The event was organised to bring lawyers and MPs together to celebrate the legal services sector and its role in strengthening democracy, contributing to the economy and supporting the UK’s international reputation.
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.
The Bar Council is committed to changing attitudes on accessing support for wellbeing at the Bar. It’s not good enough just to wait until someone becomes unwell or has a crisis. A more positive and proactive approach helps us all to maintain a successful practice and thrive at the Bar.
Maintaining your professional wellbeing is a core skill and should be given the same non-negotiable status as having an accountant or getting insurance. Hearing from others working in this area, both nationally and internationally, has been inspiring to me and we need to take wellbeing to the next level.
The Bar Council wants to facilitate better practice habits, enable people to spot early warning signs and develop skills to support each other. I know this is an ambitious project made so much easier by the support and encouragement I have received across the Bar.
The reflective practice pilots are now under way, and I am pleased to announce we will be organising a wellbeing event towards the end of this year, so please look out for the launch, coming soon.
In our initial response to Part I of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts we have welcomed the focus on diversion from the criminal justice system but warned against proposals to remove jury trials.
The profession sees juries as a fundamental part of our justice system, and it is the failure to invest properly in the justice system over decades that has led to the crisis we see in the criminal courts today. On a practical level, it remains unclear how the existing resources would be steered to meet the demands of the proposed new Crown Court Bench Division.
We recognise the need for reform to tackle the backlogs and welcome the report’s focus on out of court disposals and greater investment in rehabilitation programmes to reduce the number of cases going into the Crown Court. We put forward these suggestions in our submission to the review and they should be considered alongside David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review. We will provide a full response to the 45 recommendations in due course.
Last month, the Ministry of Justice published the 2025 judicial diversity statistics. The report finds that since 2015, the number of judges from different minority ethnic backgrounds has increased from 7% to 12%, but the number of Black judges remains at 1%.
We are told there is gradual progress being made but it’s too slow and not good enough. The representation of Black judges has remained at 1% across the judiciary for a decade with only gradual increases of people from other minority ethnic backgrounds. We want to see real progress being made so that our judiciary reflects the diverse communities we live in.
We are concerned that candidates from a minority ethnic background, and in particular Black lawyers, are disproportionately ruled out at each step of the recruitment process. We have been told that this data is not statistically relevant, but we disagree. It is relevant and requires scrutiny.
Initiatives such as the Pre-Application Judicial Education Programme, specialist Bar Association and Circuit judicial outreach initiatives and our judicial appointments mentoring programme continue to offer support and insight, but the statistics suggest much more needs to be done.
The Inns of Court, Bar Council and Law Society hosted an LGBTQ+ Pride event at Inner Temple to mark our joint and continuing commitment to inclusivity, visibility and unity across the legal world. Barristers have participated in Pride celebrations for many years, and this year was a timely reminder to renew our efforts to achieve equality, diversity and inclusion at work, in society and globally.
The Bar Council and Commonwealth Lawyers Association have come together and called on the President and government of Ghana to reinstate Chief Justice Gertrude A E S Torkornoo. We are concerned by her suspension from office and government actions that have impacted on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.
I was pleased to join Circuit Leaders and members of the Bar Council’s staff and working groups to attend a Number 10 reception in July hosted by the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood MP. The event was organised to bring lawyers and MPs together to celebrate the legal services sector and its role in strengthening democracy, contributing to the economy and supporting the UK’s international reputation.
Chair of the Bar sets out a busy calendar for the rest of the year
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Review by Stephen Cragg KC
