Excellence, not exclusivity, should be equated with the Bar, says Duncan Matthews QC
The Bar has long been committed to recruitment on merit alone, without regard to matters which are irrelevant to performance and unfairly discriminatory. Discrimination in recruitment on grounds of such matters as sex, race, religion are not only illegal and contrary to the Bar’s Code of Conduct; they are also counter-productive in building a strong profession. There is a perception that there are barriers to entry to the Bar which operate unfairly to discourage some good candidates.
In recognition of this, the Bar Council, with the active support of the Inns of Court, established the Entry to the Bar Working Party, chaired by Lord Neuberger, in late 2006 to investigate how to reduce barriers to entry for minority and socially and economically disadvantaged students. In this context, a perceived barrier is as damaging as a real barrier, not least to the extent that it deters good candidates from applying to the Bar.
INEQUALITIES
There are certain barriers which it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the Bar to address: inequalities in
