Female ethnic barristers earn the least

Study finds significant disparities between the salaries of women lawyers and male counterparts

MINORITY ethnic women are the lowest-earning barristers because they are less likely to be recommended to clients, a report has suggested.

Research by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) found that female barristers from ethnic minorities were the lowest paid while white males earned the most.

One factor for the pay disparity could be “favouritism around work allocation”, the report said, after separate research from 2016 found male barristers were more likely to be promoted and given assignments by clerks.

Other factors included a “drop-off in work” allocated to female barristers if they worked flexible hours to care for children, while others in the profession said they felt women were expected to specialise in lower earning, often publicly funded, areas of law. At the selfemployed Bar, women outnumbered men for barristers earning under £150,000 a year.

However, only 9.5 per cent of selfemployed female barristers earned £240,000 or more, compared with 26.8 per cent of male barristers.

The study also found disparities on ethnicity alone, as among black and ethnic minority barristers, there was a higher proportion (56 per cent) declaring incomes under £90,000 a year than among white colleagues (37 per cent).

Only a handful of female and minority ethnic barristers recorded gross fee incomes exceeding £1 million. The report also found that only 4.7 per cent of female barristers and 6.5 per cent of BAME barristers had QC status, as against 14.6 per cent of male barristers and 12 per cent of white barristers.

Appointed by an independent board, Queen’s Counsel status is awarded to barristers generally with a minimum of 15 years’ practice who have demonstrated a “standard of excellence”.

The report also explored variations in barrister income by region, finding that those whose primary practice address was London were more likely to declare higher incomes than those elsewhere. More than half (50.6 per cent) of female barristers in London earned less than £90,000 compared with 31.7 per cent of men. The BSB found women were more likely to specialise in family law than men, with 26.6 per cent of female barristers recording it as their main area of practice compared with 9.9 per cent of male barristers, who were more likely to practise in commercial and financial services (12.6 per cent) as against female barristers (6.7 per cent).

Mark Neale, BSB director general, said: “This report is based on figures relating to barristers’ incomes in 2018, so predates the pandemic, which has had a significant effect on incomes. It is not the levels of income that are our focus here, however, but the disparities between the different groups.

“These are marked and cannot be explained away by seniority, geography or area of law. They underline why the BSB will continue to prioritise its work on diversity and challenge the Bar to do more in combating discrimination affecting the progression of women and of barristers from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds.”