Brick Court is one of six chambers working together to create a mentoring scheme for underrepresented groups at the Bar

28/07/20

Brick Court is delighted to announce that it is working with five other sets of chambers to create a mentoring scheme, which aims to support and encourage individuals from groups which are underrepresented at the Bar of England and Wales (and in particular the commercial bar) to pursue careers as barristers.  Those underrepresented groups include women; people from minority ethnic backgrounds; people with disabilities; LGBT+ people; people who spent time in care; and people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The scheme is called Mentoring for Underrepresented Groups: a scheme run by Commercial Barristers’ Chambers. The chambers participating for the academic year 2020-21 are (in alphabetical order):

• Blackstone Chambers
• Brick Court Chambers
• Essex Court Chambers
• Fountain Court Chambers
• One Essex Court Chambers
• Three Verulam Buildings

The scheme has the support of Combar.

The scheme will run between November 2020 and June 2021. It is open to all undergraduates and graduates from groups that are underrepresented at the Bar of England and Wales (and in particular the commercial bar) and who do not yet have a pupillage offer.

Successful applicants to join the scheme will be allocated a mentor, who will be a member of one of the participating sets of chambers. As part of the scheme, mentees will be offered:

• Between three and five one-on-one meetings with their mentor.
• A workshop on applications for pupillage.
• Subject to developments in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, one or more social events for mentors, mentees and members of the participating sets of chambers.

Sarah Abram from Brick Court, who is a member of the committee that has been working to set up the mentoring scheme, comments that “The six barristers’ chambers involved in this scheme recognise that we all need to do more to improve diversity at the Bar.  Factors like your gender, social background and ethnicity shouldn’t make any difference to your chance of becoming a barrister.  All six of the sets want to make it clear that a career as a barrister is open to everyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from.  We hope that the mentoring scheme will help to make a career at the Bar more accessible to people from a range of backgrounds, by putting applicants in touch with an individual mentor who is able to give information and advice, and offering a workshop to help with pupillage applications.”

Applications to participate in the scheme are now open, and will close at midday on 2 October 2020.

Further information on the scheme, including the application form, can be found here under the heading MENTORING SCHEME.