Monitoring gender diversity at the Bar: ELA Monitoring Scheme

The Employment Lawyers Association (“ELA”) has launched a Monitoring Scheme designed to promote the equitable briefing of counsel. All law firms that hire employment law barristers are encouraged to join.

In 2019, ELA’s Management Committee ran a pilot scheme amongst ManCo firms to monitor their employment teams’ instructions of counsel by reference to gender. The dataset, though small, tentatively suggests that a female barrister was more likely to be instructed in a case where the instructing solicitor was female.

ELA is extending this Monitoring Scheme to all firms represented in its membership. Law firms are invited to join and monitor their instructions to employment law counsel for at least 3 months by reference to gender of both the instructing solicitor and barrister. Data will be collected anonymously using a simple form.

The results will be sent back to ELA’s Monitoring Scheme Working Group, which will collate the anonymous data, analyse it for trends, and report back in time for the ELA AGM on 21 May 2020.

The scheme has the full support of ELA’s ManCo, and firms represented on ManCo will be participating again.

To join the ELA Counsel Instructions Monitoring Scheme, please email ELA at lindseyw[at]elaweb.org.uk, with the subject heading “Counsel Instructions Monitoring Scheme”.

Source: ELA newsletter