All Rise (The Bar)

 

Have you been saddened, angered or surprised by some of the stories that have emerged this year about the lived experience of barristers of colour, female barristers and those from the LGBTQI+ community (including pupils and mini-pupils) going about their professional lives? Perhaps you have witnessed such bad conduct directly or have been the subject of it. 

 

Through the Bar Council Leadership Program we (Bo, Chris, Lydia, Morayo) have decided to launch a project that invites the Bar to step up and actively create a better culture through standing up and speaking against bullying, harassment, belittling and discriminatory behaviour. 

We have designed a simple wooden pin as a visible indication to the observer that the wearer finds such behaviours unacceptable.  The pin indicates that the wearer is a safe person for any member of the Bar experiencing or being subjected to bad conduct. It will be an indication to all that the wearer is committed to providing support whenever it is possible to do so safely. 

We understand that it takes 25% of people to effect societal change and so if that percentage of barristers are prepared to wear the pin and promote "All Rise (The Bar)" we believe that we can encourage a shift in culture; we can each become an active bystander.  Our hope is to create a culture within the Bar and its wider community, including the judiciary, where all are welcome, all belong and all adopt a shared professional identity. 

 

We are inviting funding to enable the production of 4,000 pins (c.25% of practising barristers), which will be fixed to a useable bookmark (to fit neatly within the White Book, Red Book, Archbold etc) which will have our stated aims printed on it.  The cost of producing the pins and bookmarks is around £5,000. We are currently in the fundraising phase. 

The pins are already designed so this important project could happen very quickly with your support. 

Thank you.