Head of our Employment SIG, Rebecca Tuck QC and Senior Clerk, William Meade, contributed to The Lawyer’s report entitled “Gender Crisis at the Employment Bar?” which focuses on gender equality at the employment bar in relation to cases at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) and Court of Appeal (CoA). The report stated that Old Square Chambers (OSC) was the top set for appearances in the Court of Appeal between 2016 and 2020, and the second highest set in number of EAT appearances.
In the report, Rebecca discussed OSC formalising a mentoring scheme within chambers to help members (female and male) take a focus on where they are going in their careers. She also touched on a big issue for women, which is retention – particularly post-maternity leave. She concludes discussing the positivity of more women being in leadership positions, being role models.
William discussed having more female members in chambers with the experience and seniority to be able to take silk in the future and that it is good to have a raft of female mentors and role models to help those coming through. He concluded that there are a good strong set of female employment members that enable OSC to have a good gender balance when putting people forward for work. With three new female silks in 2020, OSC is pleased to have increased our ability to offer our clients more options.
The full report can be found on The Lawyer website (behind a paywall).
