One in five pupils has personally experienced bullying, harassment and/or discrimination, either in person or online, the latest Bar Council’s pupil survey has revealed.

The Bar Council said ‘while incidents of bullying, harassment and discrimination are lower among pupils than they are across the bar in general, they are relatively high’. The figure represents a drop of one percentage point from 2022. When including observation of bullying, harassment, and discrimination, the figure increases to 26%.

Of the 173 respondents, around a third of all pupils, 44, said they experienced or observed bullying, harassment, or discrimination. The survey found bullying, harassment and/or discrimination is more prevalent among disabled pupils (41%) compared to pupils with no disability (13%).

Women (28%) were more likely to have personal experience of bullying, harassment and/or discrimination than men (3%). Most of those who said they had experienced or observed bullying, harassment, or discrimination said it was linked to a protected characteristic. Gender (39%), race (30%) and disability (25%) were the most common.

The survey found 43% of 44 respondents said another barrister was responsible for the bullying, harassment or discrimination seen, 21% said it was their pupil supervisor, and 16% said a member of the judiciary.

Of those who responded, 65% felt a career at the bar was viable compared with 61% in 2022. 56% of women and 53% of those working in crime said the same.

More than half (60%) ‘definitely’ envisage doing legal aid work while a further 14% said they ‘possibly would’. Almost half (49%) said they ‘definitely’ intend to do pro bono work while 43% said they ‘possibly’ will.

Meanwhile 86% of respondents said their overall experience of pupillage had been positive, down from 89% in 2022. Pupils mainly working in crime were more likely to be ‘very positive’ about their experience (57% compared with 41% of all other pupils).

Pupils who went to state or non-selective schools were more likely to indicate negative responses (23% compared with 8% of other pupils). Those with a disability were also more likely to have a negative experience in pupillage so far (22% compared with 3% of those with no disability).

Almost all respondents (94%) said they would ‘definitely’ or ‘possibly’ recommend a career at the bar, up from 73% in 2022.

Bar chair Sam Townend KC said: ‘That 94% of pupils said they would recommend a career at the bar to others is wonderful news, to the credit of all barristers who give their time for free to train pupils and shows real confidence in the future of the bar.

‘There is more work to do to make sure that every pupil has the support they need to thrive in their careers. Disabled pupils in particular report feeling less well-supported. Organisations such as Bringing [Dis]Ability to the Bar are doing excellent work to break down barriers to the profession and the Bar Council’s own disability panel will look at the pupil survey 2024 findings to consider what more can be done.’

 

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