Shotunde: We need to come together as a profession
The focus on access to the Bar in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) efforts is “low-hanging fruit” that ignores the bigger problem of progression, the chair of the Black Barristers Network said last week.
Dr Natasha Shotunde described Black lawyers as facing a “concrete ceiling”, rather than a glass one.
Speaking at last week’s Legal Services Board annual conference, Dr Shotunde, who practises from Garden Court Chambers, said: “We live in a racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic and transphobic society. The first thing we need to do is acknowledge that.
“What we’re trying to do in the space of EDI is put little plasters on what is effectively an unfair, unjust and broken world.
“The reason I’m taking it out to society is because as a barrister it is consumers, lay clients, who instruct us. They too live in said society and they too have similar stereotypes, positive and negative, in their minds when they’re choosing who to instruct.”
That also extended to solicitors instructing barristers, as well as those deciding who to appoint to the Attorney General’s panels, to silk and to the bench.
“What do we do to tackle that? The first thing we need to do is acknowledge it. The second thing is to look at the tools that already exist, particularly those produced by the Bar Council.”
But there was only so much the Bar could do in isolation, Dr Shotunde went on.
“For example, we bang on about the allocation of work – we need to analyse that and make sure the clerks are doing things properly etc – which is great, but there’s only so much they can do when a solicitor comes in and says they’re looking for counsel for this kind of case.
“Clerks put forward a list of counsel that are available and then it’s left to the other side to make sure that the decision is fair, free of bias, and is actually made on the basis of the skills and qualities of the advocate, not because of the colour of their skin or their gender.
“Who’s going to do that? We can’t do that alone and as a profession we need to come together to talk about it.”
Dr Shotunde praised initiatives like the 10,000 Black Interns project, which has been supported by the Bar and solicitors’ firms, but described them as “low-hanging fruit”.
She explained: “When it comes to EDI stuff, people focus on trying to increase access; they don’t focus on tackling the issues people have once they’re in the profession. When I look at progression, it’s not going very well, particularly when it comes to race.”
None of the 10 Black applicants for KC succeeded in the most recent silk round, while the number of Black judges continues to bump along at 1%, year after year.
“I can’t tell you how disappointed, how shocked, how upset and how angry I am when I’m not seeing any change for those of us who are already in the profession… It’s exhausting.”
Bar Council figures on earnings, meanwhile, showed that while White KCs had median earnings of £453,864, the figure for Black silks was £253,001
“Why should I continue to be in this profession when the ceiling isn’t glass, it’s concrete, and it’s not moving?”
She concluded: “I know the Bar Standards Board is trying to change the equality rules. I don’t think they did it in the right way but we need teeth and we need the Bar Council and the Law Society to come together, and also point the finger at the Judicial Appointments Commission and KC Appointments.”
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