A practical path to addressing race inclusion at the Bar

Aoife McNickle BL is Chair of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee at The Bar of Ireland.

Events globally and nationally have further galvanised organisations – including The Bar of Ireland – to critically reflect on their diversity and inclusion practices, particularly around race and ethnicity, to become ‘respectfully curious’ and ‘comfortable with being uncomfortable’.

The move towards race inclusion at the Bar

In January, The Bar of Ireland was pleased to host its first event tailored to ethnicity, race and cultural background inclusion in the legal profession, and the importance of building an inclusive culture within the industry. The event was an honest and frank discussion between myself and a panel of experts, which included:

• Simon Regis, member of the Bar Council of England and Wales, co-chair of the Bar’s Race Working Group, and co-author of ‘Race at the Bar: A Snapshot Report’;
• Sandra Healy, diversity and inclusion consultant, and founder and CEO of Inclusio, a science-based, data-led diversity and inclusion platform; and,
• Leon Diop, co-founder and CEO of Black and Irish, an organisation dedicated to highlighting and celebrating the identity of black and mixed-race Irish people.

One of the key challenges identified by Sandra Healy was that Ireland faces a lack of language around ethnicity and race. Leon Diop agreed that Ireland has the “scope to shape our own language here and be a leader in that space”, describing language as heavily underestimated yet very powerful.

Action steps – Simon Regis made several recommendations on building inclusion – which can be contextualised to fit the Irish legal profession – in a number of key areas, to which the other speakers also gave input:

Access – Entities that wish to be more diverse need to be more intentional in their pupillage, recruitment strategies, communications and adjustments to the application process.

Retention – Also necessary are mechanisms to support the monitoring and equitable allocation of work and tendering by corporate or public bodies. Mention was made of the need to focus on inclusion, not just diversity, to mitigate the “revolving door”.

Progression – Promotion and support in respect of taking silk and attaining a career in the judiciary need to be more comprehensively explored to ensure fair opportunities and advancement, irrespective of background.

Culture – Within the legal industry, and any organisation, there needs to be a member-led push for change and a desire to address diversity and inclusion. Engaging stakeholders – the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, circuits, Specialist Bar
Associations and similar – and holding an open discourse about the steps being taken to address the issue are essential. Additionally, practices require consistent calibration in response to any changes in organisational context and culture.

Data – Gathering membership data is vital, but so is acting on that data. In moving forward, the steps highlighted by this panel included the need to establish baseline data of membership demographics, to set appropriate targets and goals,
and to act on these.

A variation of the political adage might be: Some done! Lots to do!

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The views expressed above are the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of The Bar of Ireland.

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