I read the Law Society’s article in November, headlined Barristers rebel over regulator’s planned duty to 'advance equality', and saw how practitioners’ discontent over the bar regulator’s plan to impose a positive duty to promote equality in the profession erupted into open rebellion, at the proposal of a new requirement to ‘act in a way that advances equality, diversity and inclusion’. It was interesting to see how the proposal attracted widespread criticism from the profession, even to the point where chair Sam Townsend KC warned that the new duty would be counter-productive and 'probably unlawful'.

The director of independent justice organisation Liberty from 2003 - 2016, Shami Chakrabarti, provides that of all the rights that exist the most important is:

‘The right to equal treatment under the law. Lawyers call it non-discrimination translated into human as empathy. Treating other people as you’d like to be treated yourself. Walking around in someone else’s shoes etc. You find the germ of this idea in every great civilisation…'

Chakrabarti’s statement is a good illustration of how as a solicitor I consider the importance of the right to equal treatment under the law, with the key being empathy, understanding.

For me, and I would hope for all of us practising law, acting as legal representatives can never be just about the job, or the black letter of the law. Because as lawyers, barristers, or legal executives we enter people’s lives when they become embroiled for whatever reason in the legal system, be it criminal or a civil matter. Those who come to us, look to us to be their voice within the complexities of a world they are unfamiliar with.

What we do with those clients will lay the foundation in respect of the relationship we build with them.

As chair of the Race Equality Network within the London Borough of Waltham Forest, working closely with our equality, diversity and inclusion team, chief executives, directors, heads of service as well as magic circle firms, has helped me and those involved in considering how important it is that we work towards breaking down cultural barriers, which can help to promote better working relationships, which can also promote a wider understanding of the communities around us that we provide a service to.

In considering the lack of diversity within the legal profession, with particular reference to the bar, I am concerned because although there is no doubt that legal professionalism adopted in representing a client is a given, I wonder just how easy that is, for those who may have little or no knowledge of the ‘lived experiences’ of those clients they represent. Clients who look to them as the most important person within the process, because they are there to provide that client with a ‘voice.’

Why is this important? Because enlisting trust and confidence from the person you are representing can only be in the best interest of your client.

The Bar Standards Board states: 'The current core duty requires barristers not to “discriminate unlawfully”. However, in order to achieve the ‘culture change needed’, we believe the duty needs to go further. We believe it should be a core expectation of all practising barristers that they demonstrate an appropriate commitment, through their practice, to equality, diversity, and inclusion. This will form the basis of our future regulatory action in this area and will be central to achieving behaviour and culture change across the profession.'

Townsend suggested that if the BSB’s proposals were enacted they might be subject to legal challenge which could become a lengthy and costly distraction from the task of improving equality, diversity, and inclusion across the profession.

Rather than a distraction, whoever wins or loses, I am of the opinion it would in fact spotlight the issue by bringing it squarely to the forefront, for everyone involved, including those content to sit on the back of the bus by failing to actively engage in improving equality, diversity, and inclusion within their respective chambers. This would not just be beneficial for those working within the legal profession but could also have the positive ripple effect of a cultural change that would instill a better understanding of how certain client groups are being impacted by that lack of equality, diversity, and inclusion, within the only profession that provides them with invaluable legal representation.

Now that the consultation period has closed, and everything will now be cogitated and digested, I urge the BSB to stand by their commitment to imposing a positive duty to promote equality and push forward despite the backlash.

Sixty years ago, in the year of my birth, president Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in history: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin.

Change is never easy, but I pray the BSB will stand behind their words.

 

Pauline Campbell is principal lawyer at London Borough of Waltham Forest and pro bono lawyer for Windrush victims 

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