At New Square Chambers we’re committed to promoting and advancing equality, diversity and inclusion. And we recognise that social mobility remains an issue at the Bar.
Things may be improving but the Bar Standards Board’s most recent Diversity at the Bar Report (published in January 2024) records that 40.6% of barristers are female, and 16.9% of barristers are ethnic minorities. Furthermore, the Bar Standards Board’s sole measures of social mobility are attendance at independent secondary schools and parents’ attendance at university. Those statistics show that a disproportionate number of barristers (19.4%) attended an independent secondary school.
We have operated a Social Mobility Mini-Pupillage since 2020, with the aims of encouraging prospective pupillage applicants from socially-mobile backgrounds to consider practising at the Chancery Bar, and assisting those candidates who meet our criteria to reach the interview stage of the pupillage application process at New Square Chambers.