BSB diversity data: Privately educated barristers remain 'disproportionately high' compared to wider population

The number of barristers who were privately educated remains disproportionately high compared with the wider population, according to the latest snapshot of the bar.

Every year the Bar Standards Board publishes an overview of diversity at the bar to support policy development and assess the effectiveness of diversity initiatives.

On type of school attended between the ages of 11 and 16, 34% of barristers went to a state school. However, 19.4% went to an independent school, 3.2% preferred not to say and there was ‘no information’ for 38% of barristers. Of those who said what school they attended, 33.3% went to an independent school.

The report says: ‘The figures show that even if all of the barristers who chose not to respond had gone to state schools, the proportion of barristers who went to independent schools would be higher than in the wider population. As of December 2023, 19.4% of the bar (including non-respondents) attended an independent school for most of the period between 11-16, compared to approximately 6.5% of school children in England at any age, and 9.8% of UK domiciled young full-time first degree entrants in the UK in 2020/21 attending a non-state school prior to university.’

On type of school attended between 11 and 18, 3,568 of the total 18,356 barristers were privately educated, 4,384 went to state school, 580 preferred not to say and there was no information for 6,959 barristers.

The BSB told the Gazette that the percentage of privately educated barristers was falling but slowly – 33.1% of those providing a response on school in 2023, compared with 33.5% in 2022 and 33.9% in 2021.

In other findings, the proportion of women at the bar is gradually increasing and now stands at 40.6%, compared with 50.2% of the working population and 53% of solicitors.  However, only two in 10 KCs are women. The proportion of minority ethnic barristers is broadly in line with the UK working age population. Including non-respondents, 5.1% of the bar declared a disability.

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