When I became Chair of the Bar on 1 January 2020, the profession’s year ahead featured Brexit, televising courts, criminal legal aid reform, the glacial pace of technological innovation in the court service and continued efforts to modernise our profession to make it better reflect society. Life did not quite turn out that way. What an unpredictable year for the Bar and an extraordinary year for me!
It has been a year of extreme contrasts—the events of 2020 have created unprecedented challenges, but they have revealed how resilient and committed the profession is to ensuring justice is delivered. Coronavirus and the manifestations of pressure on the rule of law and access to justice have been a bass-line thrumming, occasionally drowning out higher, more positives notes, but, nonetheless, the melody has shone through. I give three completely different examples: just as work completely dried up for many barristers, the profession
