At its meeting on May 13, 2021, the California State Bar Board of Trustees adopted new accreditation rules for California accredited law schools. The new rules will come into effect on January 1st, 2022, with law schools required to demonstrate compliance by January 1, 2024, and are designed to incorporate best practices and provide a…
American Bar Association releases new report on the challenges faced by female lawyers
A newly released American Bar Association (ABA) report entitled, “In Their Own Words: Experienced Women Lawyers Explain Why They Are Leaving Their Law Firms and the Profession,” aims to shed light on factors that affect career decision making amongst experienced female lawyers. This includes information on why practitioners choose to remain in practice, move to…
Bar Standards Board publishes independent review of 2020 qualifying exams
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published the results of an independent review of the August 2020 Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams, the exams used by the Board as part of the qualification process for barristers. The review was commissioned by the BSB in November 2020 and was conducted by Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns, the…
Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System releases guides to cut through bias in legal hiring and improve legal education outcomes
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), has released two new guides designed to explain innovative ways for legal educators and legal employers to implement data-driven, outcomes-based standards underpinned by IAALS’ Foundations for Practice research. The guides are based on a survey of 24,000 lawyers and working sessions with 36 employers and 4…
Understanding and Interpreting Law School Enrolment Data
Abstract The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) has a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in legal education and in the legal profession. In line with its mission to promote quality, access, and equity in legal education, LSAC is providing a report, Understanding and Interpreting Law School Enrollment Data: A Focus on Race and Ethnicity, to help law schools, admission…
Event: Inclusion and Diversity at the Bar
May 19, 2021 Online In conjunction with the Employed Barristers’ Committee of the Bar Council, BACFI has invited our Director General Mark Neale to speak about his involvement with the our Reverse Mentoring Scheme as a mentee along with student Agatha Rockson who is a mentor, in the hope that more students and barristers will be encouraged to take part in…
Recognizing Another Black Barrier: The LSAT Contributes to the Diversity Gap in the Legal Profession
Abstract Imagine working your entire life with the purpose of building the house of your dreams. The ability to pursue this “calling” has been granted through your tremendous hard-work and dedication to your craft. In fact, building this dream home has been the final culmination of all that you have worked towards over the past…
California State Bar publishes second biennial report on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession
On the 15th March 2021, the California State Bar published its second biennial report on the progress of its work programmes designed to further diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in California’s legal profession over the last two years. The report sits against the backdrop of the Bar’s ongoing work on diversity. The Bar’s statutory mission…
Simple Ways to Increase Diversity at the English Bar
Abstract This note sets out simple ways to increase diversity at the English Bar, using the existing setup of the English Bar, but tweaking some small aspects, so without introducing any major structural changes. What this in turn means is that these ways should be easy to implement, given the collective will. The starting point…
Building an Antiracist Law School: Inclusivity in Admissions and Retention of Diverse Students—Leadership Determines DEI Success
Abstract Structural problems, such as institutional racism and bias, require structural solutions. White people in the legal academy are only now reckoning with the reality of systemic racism within our hallowed halls, an insidiousness that many People of Color in the legal academy have always known. Yes, racism and bias are pervasive in our teaching,…