By Lucy Caulkett-
The Bar Council has opposed proposals they say could discriminate against women, and fail to take account of circumstances that directly relate to them being a woman.
Under new proposals by the Law Society, future applicants for QC status will be required to list all their significant cases. However, the bar council say it may disadvantage women who have turned down work due to caring responsibilities.
The objection was based on grounds in stark contrast with that of the Law Society which said the proposal would reduce the need for solicitor advocate applicants to approach judges for a favourable reference.
The Bar Council promotes high levels of advocacy and seeks to propagate the highest standards of ethics, equality and diversity. It was responding to one of two consultation papers published by QC Appointments (QCA) on how to improve the process for appointing new silks. Driven by the will to ensure the administration of justice, concerned members of the bar have taken the strong initiative to safeguard the interests of women , and ensure they are not marginalised in similar ways we have seen in big corporation where wide gender gaps in income levels were revealed.
The critical papers call for feedback on proposals regarding listing of cases and assessors , and also on the character and conduct of applicants. One of the proposals highlighted in the listing consultation suggests asking applicants to list all their substantial cases over a three-year period, but critics believe they should only be asked to list all their 12 most important cases from any given period.
There is also a requirement for applicants to list eight judicial, six practitioners and four client assessors who can comment on their performance in those cases. The scheme was intended to eliminate discrimination and secure merit based appointments for all higher court advocates regardless of their gender, race, or ethnicity.
CHALLENGE
The Law Society believe making each case subject to an assessment would take away the added challenge of approaching the judiciary for a reference, ’which some solicitor advocates may find more challenging than a member of the bar’, the Bar Council has expressed their view that the current system worked well.
The Law Society said: ‘We believe that the idea of making candidates list all recent cases of substance (potentially up to a maximum number) rather than select cases from the previous three years is likely to disadvantage primary carers (and therefore more women than men) because senior women in some types of work may turn down the best cases because they require travelling away from home, limiting the number of cases of substance they can present.’
The Bar Council made clear in its comprehensive response that it does not support in principle proposals that require applicants to list all cases of substance in a specified time-period to avoid ”cherry picking”.
The council said limiting required sample cases to a three-year period ‘as a maximum’ would allow people who take time off from practice and be able to give a representative section of their work. However, The Bar Council made clear in its comprehensive response that it does not support in principle proposals that require applicants to list all cases of substance in a specified time-period to avoid ”cherry picking”. We believe the current system is working well for applicants. Under the present practise, applicants are assessed according to their performances, ”against a competency framework which highlights the various strengths that define what is required of an advocate in a higher court”.
Applicants are assessed on the grounds of evidence about their performance in the higher courts of England and Wales. Feedback from judges and even clients can all be used in determining the merits of an application.
The Bar Council also recommended fresh proposals to amend the current system of grading applicants as not good/good/excellent. The bar suggested the current system should be replaced with a scale of 1-10 , to address the perception that a failure to score ‘excellent’ in every category is an indication that QC status should not be granted. The proposals from the bar are very encouraging and show that the bar council are fulfilling their duty of promoting the administration of justice.
Those putting together the new scheme were determined to do all they could to maximise diversity of appointments in the appointment system, and to ensure that all those appointed under the new system had a good understanding of diversity issues as they affect the legal profession.