Brie Stevens-Hoare QC addresses gender inequality at the senior Bar
On 12 March 2014 Lord Neuberger gave the Rainbow Lecture on Diversity. The lecture concluded with an explicit reference to the duty of all those involved in the legal profession and judiciary to improve the inclusiveness of the legal world.
Most practising lawyers will recognise the reasons Lord Neuberger identified for working against the continuing lack of diversity in the legal professions. He spoke of the “sheer inequity” and the “reduction in excellence” that flows from a lack of diversity, the failure to select from the whole of the available pool.
Neuberger also articulated the idea that the role of the legal profession and judiciary in society makes the achievement of comprehensive diversity in the sector particularly significant. Those in society who see themselves as under-represented or even absent from its key sectors are alienated. The legal professions are feeder professions for the judiciary. They and the judiciary are perceived as powerful in our society and key to the rule of law. If sections of society are alienated from those professions,
