Leading barrister Collin Winter KC has voiced serious concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion (EDI) mandates in the legal profession.
The King’s Counsel, who specialises in insurance law, objected to the Bar Standards Board’s recent proposal that would make EDI advancement an obligation for practising barristers.
Winter fears that in “15, 20, 30 years ahead,” such mandates could lead to a legal system that becomes “rotten” and “rigged” as independent thinking is compromised.
Winter recalled his early career experiences in the 1980s, when there was “no attempt to try and hide what was quite racist approach to recruitment”.
Collin Winter KC said the system will be “rotten”
GB NEWS
By the 1990s, he noted chambers had improved their practices and “were looking for good black applicants”.
His concerns emerged when applying for a judicial position as an assistant recorder in the late 1990s or early 2000s.
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He told GB News: “The problem is that if we have barristers required to to do this, to advance CDI barristers to become judges, judges become court appeal judges, court people, judges and hire they control.
“They are the guardians of our common law and this is the common law based system.
“So the danger is not necessarily now, but if you’re looking 15, 20, 30 years ahead, if you have a E.D. mandated barristers who then become our judges and in charge of our common law and our statutory law and our European law and so forth, such as we have remaining.
“That’s where the system becomes rotten. It becomes rigged effectively. The point is that we are supposed to be independent, fearless thinkers who decide things on merit.
“That’s how the common law was created in this country, not by having people who think are the same way and have been directed to think the same way.
“So you have to have this independence of thought, freedom of thought in the bar and then also in the judiciary.”
This comes as The Bar Standards Board (BSB) unveiled proposed changes to its equality regulations, aiming to provide equal opportunities for both current and aspiring barristers.
Collin Winter KC recalled his early career experiences in the 1980s, when there was “no attempt to try and hide what was quite racist approach to recruitment”.
GB NEWS
In a consultation document, the regulatory body has suggested an amendment to core duty eight, which currently mandates that barristers “must not discriminate unlawfully against any person.”
The proposed change would broaden this duty, replacing the current wording with a requirement that barristers “must act in a way that advances equality, diversity, and inclusion.”
This shift is designed to reflect a broader commitment to fostering an inclusive legal profession.
