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  4. Dean calls for culture change to support women at bar

Dean calls for culture change to support women at bar

13th March 2023 | careers

The Faculty of Advocates still faces “real difficulties” both in attracting and retaining female talent, and culture change is needed to address this, the Dean of Faculty has said.

Roddy Dunlop KC made the remarks in an address to the Commonwealth Law Conference which took place in Goa, India, last week, in which he noted that this year marks the centenary of the first admission of a woman to Faculty – Margaret Kidd, who went on to become the first woman in Britain to be appointed King’s Counsel.

Mr Dunlop noted how progress had been “glacial”, with Lady Dorrian, the first woman to be appointed Lord Justice Clerk, being only the 11th woman to call when she was admitted in 1981. Although women had formed the majority of law graduates for 30 years now, they still make up only one third of the membership of Faculty, and there has yet to be a woman Dean, although there have been two Vice Deans.

Examining the reasons for this, the Dean said two female KCs with whom he raised the subject had raised various matters: women tend to shoulder more caring responsibilities; the bar was not an employer and had no creche, funded parental leave, or job share facilities; family responsibilities could make some reluctant to commit to nine months’ unpaid devilling; court scheduling left little room to accommodate other commitments; the menopause gave rise to further issues. And some men still held “antediluvian” sexist views when it came to instructions. 

To address this, Mr Dunlop pointed to the recently introduced Lord Hope scholarship scheme and the Fair Instruction policy. “But this is still not enough”, he continued. “We need to take active steps to encourage women to become Office Bearers, and hold positions where they can inspire the younger generation. We need to increase engagement with the bench, so that there is mutual recognition of the difficulties that can be faced by female practitioners. More recognition – such as by providing exemptions from CPD requirements – should be given to those with caring responsibilities. We should promote a culture that discourages work at weekend and nights and encourages a healthy home/work balance.”

To accept the present situation, he said, would be “not just bad for Faculty: it is bad for the administration of justice as a whole, and thus for the people whom that system of justice is designed to serve”.

Read a fuller extract from the address here.

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