Tackling the “systemic” bullying of barristers, unfair pay disparity and high levels of unhappiness in the profession, gives Amrit Kaur Dhanoa a lot to deal with.
The 32-year-old commercial and regulatory specialist at London’s 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square took over last month as chairwoman of the Young Barristers’ Committee — which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.
Dhanoa accepts that there are no quick fixes, but stresses the importance of young barristers having their voice heard in their “crucial” early years of practice as they build a “sustainable practice … and feel comfortable and supported”.
A report from the Bar Council, which represents all 17,500 barristers in England and Wales, published this month shows that juniors are increasingly struggling — with women, those from ethnic-minority backgrounds or practising in family or criminal law feeling the worst.
The reasons for this, Dhanoa suggests, can be found in other council reports that highlight the 17 per cent pay disparity between men and women across the profession and the high incidence of bullying. Published in December, a report on bullying, harassment and discrimination showed an increase in the number of people affected, with 44 per cent of barristers stating that they had experienced or witnessed poor behaviour in the past year — up from 31 per cent in 2017.
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The majority reported that a judge was responsible, with others accusing more senior members of their own chambers.
“This is a systemic problem — it’s not just a few people here and there — and we need to stamp it out,” says Dhanoa, encouraging barristers to use the council’s Talk to Spot app to report abuse anonymously. The problem, she suggests, stems from a power imbalance, rejecting criticism of “snowflake” junior barristers who are unable to take criticism.
Dhanoa also attributes the rise in reports to a change in culture that has made barristers more willing to speak out rather than “burying their head in the sand”.
The inadequate earnings of publicly funded barristers, she says, means many feel unable to continue. But, Dhanoa stresses that the problem is not limited to poor remuneration. “It is also the working conditions, the pressure on those doing vitally important work, the environment in which they work — they go to court and the place is crumbling — how is that motivating?”
Another priority is the need to ensure that junior barristers are able to learn and develop their careers in the changed post-pandemic atmosphere where fewer people routinely come into chambers.
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The pandemic — which closed the courts and dried up work and income for many — was the “most testing time for the junior Bar”. It was also one reason that Dhanoa became involved in the committee she now leads — because it “brought into sharp focus the importance of a forum to provide support and guidance”.
Remote and online pupillage, she says, means that junior barristers “haven’t been exposed to the collegiate experience of the Bar or had the ability to learn from others through osmosis, by hearing them talk in chambers about cases and judges”.
The experience is quite “isolating” and “hampers their professional development”, says Dhanoa, whose committee is conducting research to see what initiatives chambers are running to encourage barristers to come in and how they are supporting juniors. Concerned about the high cost of training to become a barrister, she highlights the financial support available from the four Inns of Court and is heartened by this year’s increase in pupillages.
The committee, she says, supports the idea to defer call to the Bar until after completion of pupillage — as promoted by the current and immediate Bar Council chairmen. “The number of people competing for pupillage has been a longstanding problem and deferring call would tackle that and I see the merit in that,” says Dhanoa.
Born in London in 1990 and brought up on the western fringes of the capital, Dhanoa is the youngest of three sisters. With east African-Asian parents who originally came from Punjab, she “identifies as a British Sikh”.
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Dhanoa, whose mother is a chief information officer and father works for the railways, attended the independent Notting Hill and Ealing High School for girls before studying law at Queen Mary University of London. She swapped to English and European Law, adding an Erasmus year spent at KU Leuven, Belgium’s oldest university.
After completing the Bar vocational course at BPP in London and being called in 2016, Dhanoa decided to get some industry experience before applying for pupillage and took a job in New York and then London as an analyst at the investment bank UBS. After pupillage at a small commercial set in King’s Bench Walk, she did a third six at her current set, where she was offered a tenancy in 2019.
Career highlights include working as junior counsel to the Covid-19 inquiry last year when it looked at the government’s response to the pandemic, and going to Dubai with a Pegasus Trust scholarship, where she spent three months working at the law firm Al-Tamimi & Co and at the Dubai International Financial Centre.
She lives in London with her husband, who is a photographer, and her son, where she “strives to sit down with a good book”.
