Steering group to implement bar bullying review recommendations

A new steering group to implement the recommendations suggested by Harriet Harman’s independent review of bullying, harassment and sexual harassment at the bar has been established by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board.

The joint group will develop a protocol for reporting bullying and harassment for when the commissioner for conduct, a Bar Council officer, is in place. The group will aim to ensure ‘ongoing dialogue and information sharing’ as the recommendations from the former long-serving MP and minister report.

Harman’s review, published in September this year, made 36 recommendations including the appointment of a commissioner and mandatory anti-bullying and anti-harassment standards, as well as the Bar Council talk to the Solicitors Regulation Authority about its ‘explicitly clear’ code of conduct covering bullying and harassment.

Members of the steering group include Barbara Mills, chair of the Bar Council, and chair of the BSB Chris Bones, board members, senior barristers and staff members representing both organisations.

Mills said: ‘We have been delighted at the positive response to the launch of the Harman report and the widespread agreement and understanding that action must be taken to address bullying and harassment at the bar. Implementing Baroness Harman’s recommendations requires everyone to work together, across the bar and judiciary. Our joint steering group with the BSB will help us to navigate the regulatory aspects of the Harman report and make sure any proposed changes are workable.’

Bones added: ‘We are committed to collaborating with the Bar Council and others to coordinate ways forward both together and as an independent regulator with the recommendations made in the Harman report. Whilst we must make independent regulatory decisions, it is important for us to understand different perspectives, viewpoints and opportunities and this collaboration is something we commit to.’

Harman’s review also covered judicial bullying, of which she had received ‘abundant, disturbing and compelling accounts’. The lady chief justice was asked about this report in her appearance before the Commons justice committee this week. Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill said she was working with the Bar Council to see if the judiciary could have access to complaints made to Talk to Spot, the council’s online tool that allows anyone working at and around the bar to report incidents of inappropriate and abusive behaviour.

She added: ‘We have been doing work on these issues since 2020 and as I said in my formal response when Baroness Harman’s report came out, there are far too many examples of judicial bullying in that report than there should be. We absolutely need to continue to address these problems.’

‘I think we want to look hard at informal routes of complaints because I think they can be very effective provided we are not sweeping big problems under the carpet. If I had the resources to have a Talk to Spot for the judiciary, I would.’