One Essex Court is delighted to introduce two new online workshops aimed at encouraging and supporting those from ethnic minority backgrounds in pursuing a career at the Commercial Bar.
Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in interactive group sessions, and to ask questions and gain insights from our practising barristers.
Launched in celebration of Black History Month this October, these workshops reflect our strong, on-going commitment to equality and diversity.
We especially encourage those from ethnic minority backgrounds to apply. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, and candidates will either be confirmed or placed on a waiting list.
- Race at the Bar Workshop 1: Introduction to the Commercial Bar - Thursday 5 December 2024
- Race at the Bar Workshop 2: Applying for pupillage at the Commercial Bar - Tuesday 25 February 2025
Please contact Chantal if you require any further information.
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Commitment to Equality and Diversity
One Essex Court is committed to affording equality of opportunity to all applicants. Chambers encourages and welcomes applications from women, people of minority ethnic origin, people with disabilities, LGBT+ people, and other groups under-represented at the Commercial Bar.
One Essex Court does not look to recruit any “type” of person. We recruit on the basis of merit alone and have a long history of offering pupillage and tenancy to individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. Moreover, we routinely welcome as members of One Essex Court individuals who have not followed what might be thought of as a “typical” career path to the Commercial Bar, including mature applicants, applicants from overseas and applicants without a law degree.
However, we recognise that Chambers, and the Commercial Bar more broadly, continue to be less diverse than we would like, particularly in respect of women and people of minority ethnic origin. We are committed to changing that. It is not only the right thing to do, but it is also in One Essex Court's best interests. Chambers’ clients come from all over the world. They often have no particular preconceived idea of what a barrister looks like, but they are extremely concerned to have the best advice and advocacy available. We do not believe that the qualities that constitute excellence at the Bar are to be found in any particular group of people, and so we expect the best potential barristers to be a diverse group. Where our recruitment falls short of that, we are concerned that we are missing out on talented applicants who would flourish at the Commercial Bar.
We therefore want to ensure that we receive applications from a wide range of potential pupils, and assess those applications fairly. The steps we are taking to do that include:
- Providing opportunities to students from groups which are underrepresented at the Commercial Bar e.g. through our Women at the Commercial Bar Programme and Open Days.
- Ensuring our recruitment process is fair, for example by using RARE recruitment (a specialised recruitment company which offers a Contextualised Recruitment System (CRS), designed and built to enable employers to develop a calibrated and properly balanced approach to the process of evaluating pupillage applications) and offering unconscious bias and race training to those involved in the recruitment process.
- Providing sponsorship to a variety of university societies and initiatives which aim to promote diversity.
- Ensuring members of chambers have equal access to opportunities. More information (such as Chambers’ Parental Leave policy and diversity data) can be found here.
Our Equality & Diversity policy can be found here.
Further information on Chambers’ social responsibility initiatives can be found here.
We are proud signatories to the Women in Law Pledge created by the Bar Council of England and Wales, The Law Society, and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx). We are committed to the progress of equality, elimination of sex discrimination and pledge to make positive change for the legal profession.
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Race at the Bar Workshop 1: Introduction to the Commercial Bar: Thursday 5 December 2024
Workshop 1: Introduction to the Commercial Bar
Thursday 5 December 2024 5pm to 7pm via zoom
This session is ideal for students from sixth-form level upwards who may be interested in the Commercial Bar and want to learn more about topics like:
- What do commercial barristers do?
- Why is it an attractive career?
- What are the routes to becoming a commercial barrister?
- What do clients look for in a commercial barrister?
Followed by interactive group sessions and a Q&A.
Register your interest here by Friday 22 November 2024.
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Race at the Bar Workshop 2: Applying for pupillage at the Commercial Bar: Tuesday 25 February 2025
Workshop 2: Applying for pupillage at the Commercial Bar
Tuesday 25 February 2025 5pm to 7pm via zoom
Tailored for those applying in February 2025, or in the near future, for pupillage at the Commercial Bar, focused on interview preparation, including:
- How should you approach interviews?
- What is the best way to tackle problem questions?
- What separates the Commercial Bar from other areas of the Bar?
Followed by interactive group sessions and a Q&A.
Register your interest here by Friday 7 February 2025.