Spotlight on the Equitable Briefing

The Bar of Ireland’s forthcoming Equitable Briefing Policy - launching in the new early legal year - aims to drive cultural change and foster equality, diversity and inclusion regarding briefing practices across the profession.

The Equitable Briefing Policy is a practical response to the need to optimise opportunities for practice development of female counsel and support the progression and retention of women at the Bar. A more diverse briefing panel will benefit clients and legal professionals - solicitors and barristers alike - by increasing their exposure to a greater range of expertise and voices.

What is equitable briefing?

Whilst acknowledging the selection of counsel is the decision of the client, the policy asks that all reasonable endeavours to include female counsel with the required seniority, expertise, and experience in the relevant practice area as part of discussions with client as to appropriate counsel.

This policy will initially focus on gender-equitable distribution with a view to expanding that focus to other areas of equitable briefing.

What is the objective of the policy?

The Equitable Briefing Policy aims to redress the lack of female counsel at senior levels and in the superior courts, and the lack of visibility of female expertise in certain areas of practice. The policy seeks to encourage those briefing counsel to look beyond their usual pool; assist in more equitable distribution across the genders of briefing in all areas of practice; and provide an opportunity to challenge unconscious bias.

What is the advantage to briefing entities and clients?

Equitable briefing practices maximise choice for legal practitioners and their clients, and also expand the existing and prospective pool of talent available by promoting the full use of the Independent Referral Bar

Briefing entities (solicitors and in-house legal teams) and clients benefit from gender-equitable participation in the provision of legal services, in the following ways:

· Maximises choice for practitioners and clients;

· Meets increasing client expectations with respect to genuine participation and inclusion of women and meeting some tendering requirements of clients;

· Expands the prospective pool of counsel available across firms or inhouse teams to meet future demands and needs;

· Delivers transformative power of gender equality to the business of law e.g., diverse groups bring a greater variety of experience, enhanced insights, skill sets, tactics and decision-making.

At a societal level, gender-equitable participation:

· Delivers transformative power of gender equality in the public interest e.g., more representative of the composition of the community it serves; reflective of community expectations of fairness in all aspects of the administration of the law;

· Improves progression of women in the law; to senior levels of public service and private practice; and to the bench. It also addresses documented historic and cultural unconscious gender bias in a tangible way.

Who can sign up to the Equitable Briefing Policy?

We are inviting all solicitor firms, state agencies, public bodies and corporates with briefing-making authority to sign up to the policy. These entities come from both the private sector and public sector and, for many, have committed to gender-equitable policies and standards.

In order to measure and evaluate the impact of the policy, briefing entities who have adopted the policy are required to submit, each year, a confidential report with an outline of their briefing practices and the measures they have taken to implement the policy.

The Policy is also open to fellow barristers who play a role in the identification and instruction of colleagues for solicitors and briefing entities.

How is the Bar promoting equitable briefing?

We recognise our significant role in ensuring the success of this initiative. This includes maximising access to and visibility of female counsel across all areas and jurisdictions of practice.

Proposed actions by the Bar include:

· Continuing to monitor and improve the search functionality on the Law Library website to enable easier location of suitably qualified counsel across all areas of practice;

· Ensuring gender balance in the composition of speakers at The Bar of Ireland events (e.g., CPDs, conferences and panel discussions);

· Hosting joint events and CPDs with firms/briefing entities to ease the sharing and exchange of knowledge; to maximise exposure to the available expertise at the Bar; and to provide counsel and solicitors with networking opportunities;

· Regularly checking-in with firms/briefing entities to understand their needs and priorities on the implementation of their commitments and how the Bar can help; · establishing partnerships to support and promote the initiative (e.g., Specialist Bar Associations, the Law Society, The Dublin Solicitors Bar Association, Irish Women Lawyers Association, local bar associations on circuit etc.);

· Hosting information seminars to raise awareness and support of the initiative, and to encourage members to promote the initiative within their networks and sign up themselves.

Interest to know more?

The Policy will formally launch early in the 2022 Legal Year. We look forward to outlining in greater detail, elements and supports associated with making this policy a success. Should you have any questions, please contact [email protected]