UK Supreme Court Building Bridges to Address Diversity and Inclusion

The UK’s Supreme Court announced this week that it will start taking applications for a new programme which will offer paid internships for aspiring #lawyers from underrepresented communities at the Bar. The programme, the first of its kind for the UK Supreme Court, has been designed in collaboration with Bridging The Bar, a charity committed to creating #diversity and equal opportunity within the #legal profession.
 
Currently all the UK Supreme Court justices, 12 in all, are white, and only two of them are women. And according to Ministry of Justice UK figures, at 1 April -- across the judiciary in England and Wales – the proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) court judges was 8%, with 4% in senior posts (high court and above). For women, the respective figures were 32% and 26%.  The UK population itself is 14% BAME and 51% female.
 
In 2016, the UKSupremeCourt launched a four-year strategy, setting out the “actions we would take to embed the principles of #equality and diversity in all we do.” 
 
Along with concerted, important grassroots efforts like that with Bridging the Bar – which itself should be heartily applauded – this requires a will to drive #systemschange across the legal profession, with a just representation of our diverse population.
 
One should expect no less from the Bar and all the courts of our land, not least the UK Supreme Court.
 
Here’s to that #leadership. Here's to that progress.
 
#diversityandinclusion