Selborne Chambers is proud to be a signatory to ‘The Women in Law Pledge,’ a joint initiative created by the Bar Council of England and Wales, The Law Society, and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx). We are committed to tackling the issue of gender equality and the elimination of sex discrimination across the legal profession. We pledge to contribute to positive change on these issues through initiatives set out in our EDI Action Plan.
The signing of the Women in Law pledge reflects our commitment to recruit, retain and support female members of Chambers and staff. Chambers has set itself the following targets:
Target 1: to ensure that as many female members as possible are appointed onto Government Panels within 10 years of practice.
Target 2: to ensure that as many female members as possible are named in the Legal Directories within their fields of specialism, within 12 years of practice.
Target 3: to ensure that as many female members as possible are appointed Silk within 25 years of practice.
Chambers has also set itself internal recruitment targets for Summer 2023, in an aim to increase its numbers of both female members staff and female members of Chambers.
Selborne has taken or is taking a range of positive steps to succeed in achieving these targets. This includes equality, diversity and inclusion training for members and staff with a particular focus on issues relevant to the fair treatment of women, and fair recruitment and selection processes. Our EDI Committee has recently carried out a detailed review and update of Chambers’ Parental Leave, Fair Access to Work, Anti-Harassment and Equality & Diversity policies. All of these policies are the subject of careful ongoing scrutiny. Chambers has also considered the Voices of Women Report and the Routes for Real Change Report, both published by the Chancery Bar Association, and has ensured that many of the recommended actions are included in Chambers’ EDI Action Plan.
Nicholas Trompeter KC is the senior lead on this commitment, supported by Isabel Petrie and Charlotte Crane. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion issues are overseen by our EDI Officer, Daniel Webb who heads up Chambers EDI Committee which is responsible for ensuring Chambers executes its EDI Action Plan.