Dec 13, 2024 Story by: Editor
A recent study by the Bar Council reveals that white pupil barristers are more likely to secure tenancy on their first attempt compared to their Black counterparts. The findings were shared in an update to the 2021 Race at the Bar report.
The research shows that between 2015-16 and 2019-20, 76% of white pupils secured tenancy immediately after completing their pupillage, whereas only 52% of Black pupils achieved the same outcome. By the period spanning 2020-21 to 2023-24, the numbers improved slightly, with 82% of white pupils and 67% of Black pupils securing tenancy directly after pupillage.
Despite the improvement, Black pupil barristers remain the most likely group to undertake a ‘third six’—a probationary tenancy—or initially join chambers as squatters, staying in their training chambers without the prospect of tenancy.
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) acknowledged this gap as “a matter of concern that may well be improving,” while emphasizing that it “needs to be kept under review.”
In general, the report found that ethnic minority pupils at the bar perform well in transitioning from pupillage to tenancy, with approximately 93–94% eventually securing tenancy.
However, the update also brought attention to stark disparities in earnings among barristers from different ethnic backgrounds. Among those at the self-employed bar, the median gross fee income was reported as £155,666 for white barristers, compared to £112,866 for Asian barristers and £90,000 for Black barristers. Source: Legal Cheek
