The publication of Baroness Harriet Harman KC’s review into bullying at the Bar has sent shockwaves through London’s legal community. While its immediate focus is on barristers, the implications are far broader, touching every corner of the referral legal profession – including clerks and judges.
The findings are stark, and the reputational risk to the Bar is significant. Beth Durkin, director at Byfield Consultancy, captured the gravity of the situation, writing on LinkedIn: “The Bar has lagged behind both wider business and the regulation of solicitors. That gap must close if public confidence in the profession is to be maintained.”
She rightly called for the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board (BSB) to implement Harman’s recommendations, but stressed that responsibility does not end there. She wrote: “Chambers themselves must act proactively to safeguard their reputations and foster a safe and accountable culture. This extends beyond barristers to encompass clerks and other non-qualified staff.”
Indeed, the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks (IBC), in collaboration with the Legal Practice Management Association (LPMA), contributed to Harman’s reference group and has conducted its own previous survey on workplace culture. Lucy Burrows of 3 Verulam Buildings, who led the IBC’s initiative, worked closely with Twenty Essex’s Jemma Tagg and met directly with Harman.
Burrows, a Women and Diversity in Law Award winner in 2023, emphasised the breadth of the problem: “Those working with the Bar witness the profound impact of bullying and harassment, affecting not only barristers but also the clerks and staff in chambers.”
She added: “Chambers must be a safe, respectful workplace where misconduct is not tolerated and where all can develop and thrive professionally. A fundamental change of culture is required, both to protect individuals and to safeguard the reputation of the Bar.”
To that end, the IBC and LPMA will issue a joint practice note to members and participate in the taskforce charged with implementing the review’s recommendations.
James Whiting of Doughty Street Chambers and Alison Crosland of Keating Chambers, the co-chairs of the LPMA, affirmed their commitment to “collaborate with all stakeholders in successfully implementing the recommendations”.
One of the most controversial proposals is a new rule classifying sexual relationships between pupil barristers and senior members of chambers, clerks or others in positions of authority as serious professional misconduct.
Baroness Harman, the report's author, was unequivocal: “Pupils are in chambers to progress their career, not to be preyed on for sex.”
Harman urged the profession to “listen to what is being said by those, particularly those lower down in the hierarchy, who are subjected to this misconduct, recognise the misery it causes and the threat it poses to the reputation of the Bar. Tackling misconduct cannot rest only on the slight shoulders of the victims”.
Lachlan Stewart, chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee, echoed this concern, noting that bullying and harassment disproportionately affect junior barristers.
“Not only are junior barristers more likely to be the recipients of this behaviour, but we are also less likely to report it, for fear of jeopardising our career (amongst a myriad of other reasons),” he wrote. “This unhappy dynamic is what has been spelt out loud and clear by the review, but in truth, it is something that the profession already knows.”
Harman also addressed the judiciary, urging judges to “take [the review] as an opportunity to acknowledge the problem of judges bullying barristers and to take the further steps needed to stop it”.
The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, responded with candour: “Such behaviour is unacceptable and should have no place in our justice system.”
While acknowledging that most judges behave appropriately, she conceded that the review contained “too many examples of judicial bullying”.
Carr affirmed that the senior judiciary did not seek to excuse or minimise such conduct.
“We know we have more to do,” she said. “We are currently reviewing the routes available to raise concerns and resolve issues, and working to challenge and change unacceptable behaviour. We need to give those who experience bullying, harassment or discrimination the confidence to speak up, knowing that something will be done and that their own career will not suffer.”
Strong words. It will be the Bar Council and BSB’s actions, and those of chambers, that ensure that any work that clerks, pupils or judges do is addressed at the source – the behaviour of barristers – while ensuring that judicial conduct also remains appropriate. No easy task for Carr, or regulators.
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