We are delighted to announce that Garden Court Chambers is shortlisted for the Outstanding in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award and Social Mobility Award at the Women, Influence & Power in Law UK Awards 2024.
Garden Court Chambers is proud of its commitment to diversity. We were founded in 1974 with a commitment to promote social justice and equality. These ‘revolutionary’ aspirations have shaped our standards and we have consistently worked towards achieving social progress. Our motto: ‘Do right, fear no-one’, encapsulates this stance of achieving justice and defending the rights of individuals through an innovative and bold approach.
Since 1974, we at Garden Court Chambers have strived to be diverse, not only through the work of our members but also by reflecting this diversity in the composition of our staff and tenants. It is therefore worth noting that we employ a diverse range of staff. The majority of our staff members at Chambers (58 per cent) are women, and 36 per cent are people of colour.
In our quest to improve diversity and inclusion at the Bar, we have partnered with several like-minded initiatives as well as set up our own long-term mentoring scheme, 'Access to the Bar for All'. The scheme awards scholarships to two students, if they study Law, of £7000 per year over three years, and allocates a barrister mentor over the five-year period. We currently have two law students receiving these scholarships.
Access to the Bar For All was awarded ‘Diversity Initiative of the Year’ at the Diversity Legal Awards in 2017 and was shortlisted for ‘Diversity Project of the Year’ at the Women in Law Awards 2020. Previously, the scheme won the Outstanding Contribution to Diversity & Inclusion at the Chambers Bar Awards for two years running in 2019 and 2020.
Read the full shortlist here.
Winners will be announced at the award ceremony taking place on Wednesday 6 March 2024.
