@jdkc
Family law barrister at 4PB London, Emeritus Professor of Law Gresham College.Views my own(warts & all) RT=worth a read,not necessarily endorsements:I read & learn. Known for being outspoken about things that matter to me & my profession.
I wrote We Set the Bar because I believe this profession can be fairer, healthier and genuinely inclusive - without losing its independence or integrity.
Day by day we must keep talking. Keep listening. And act 2 because word are not enough.
#IWD2026 #WeSetTheBar
#IWD ? Is a day enough ? CHANGE is needed day by day
This week has been about honesty, not indictment.
The Bar can be a remarkable profession - which is exactly why it’s worth fighting for. Change won’t come from pretending the past didn’t happen, but from learning from it and acting collectively.
Most use that power responsibly. Some don’t - and the consequences can shape careers for years. Without transparency and accountability, power protects itself.
A fair profession requires visible, answerable power.
#PowerAndPrivilege #WSTB #WeSetTheBar #IWD
#IWD2026 is nearly on us. And that means we need to talk oPOWER
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Power at the Bar isn’t abstract. It sits with those who allocate work, recommend promotion, and decide who belongs.
#PowerAndPrivilege #WeSetTheBar
Talk to SPOT. Talk to someone you trust who you can be yourself with. Don’t endure abuse. It’s not your fault. Break the Silence #StandTogether #IWD #WSTB
Silence is often mistaken for consent, when it’s more often fear: of retaliation, of lost work, of being labelled “difficult”.
Sexual harassment. Judicial bullying. Careers quietly damaged behind closed doors.
Silence isn’t absence. It’s self-protection.
in the build up to #IWD lets talk about SILENCE
There are things at the Bar that everyone knows - and few people report.
#BreakTheSilence #WomenAtTheBar #WSTB
Lost income, stalled careers, unpaid caring work, exhaustion treated as personal failure. The Bar still rewards constant availability - a model built around lives many women don’t live.
When staying comes at a higher price, equality is only theoretical.
#LegalAid #WeSetTheBar #IWD2026
In the count down to #IWD- reflect on Woman at the Bar and COST
We talk a lot about the cost of legal aid in numbers. We talk far less about the cost to the women who practise it.
#LegalAid #WeSetTheBar #IWD2026
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Anger,when grounded in truth, is not a threat to the profession.
It’s a demand that it does better.
If this resonates -your anger is valid.
Don’t stay silent. Don’t let others smother your voice or your experiences. Own them.Share them. Be made stronger by them.
#IWDCountdown #EqualityAtTheBar
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Much of what we’ve heard over the years comes with a familiar caveat:
“Don’t make a fuss.”
“Don’t be difficult.”
“Don’t risk your practice.”
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Sexism.
Racism.
Judicial bullying.
Sexual harassment.
Naming these isn’t unprofessional.
Ignoring them is.
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But anger is what you feel after decades of watching talent wasted, harm minimised and discrimination reframed as “character-building”.
Thread
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Anger has a bad reputation at the Bar - especially in women.
We’re told to be calm. Measured. Resilient.
#WomenInLaw #WeSetTheBar
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If you recognise yourself in any of this, you’re not alone.
If you want to add your voice, I’m listening.
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I wrote We Set the Bar to tell the truth about life at the Bar - celebrating the highs, without concealing the lows, and asking what must change.
Over the next week I’ll talk about truth, anger,cost,silence,power,solidarity & change- themes that run through the book and through my working life.
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We often describe that loss as “choice” or “attrition”.
Those words are comfortable.
They are also misleading.
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I’ve worked alongside extraordinary women - talented, principled, deeply committed - who loved this profession and were quietly worn down by it.
Too many are no longer here.
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I’ve spent 40 years as a legal aid barrister in a profession still widely seen as the preserve of public-school educated, white men.
That reputation didn’t come from nowhere.
And it hasn’t vanished.
Thread
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For the next 7 days, ahead of International Women’s Day, I want to talk honestly about women at the Bar.
Not in slogans.
Not in myths.
But from the inside.
#IWDCountdown #WomenAtTheBar
@brisunipress.bsky.social @bupjournals.bsky.social @4pbfamilylaw.bsky.social
@jdkc.bsky.social - a really helpful analysis from @familoo.pinktape.co.uk about lessons for the court. Thanks, both, though judgment made scary reading.
new Control & the Law podcast with Prof. Rosemary Hunter and @jdkc.bsky.social discussing domestic abuse in family courts open.spotify.com/episode/2Vs0...
This was a case I very much wanted to see publicly discussed. The young person I acted for had been failed by the family court system at every stage. He suffered avoidable harm as a result & wanted his experiences to be listened to. He worried about other children trapped by systemic flaws.
I have been too engrossed with work(& trying to survive it) in recent months to engage with social media. I’ve also been writing. I wanted to try to make difference by openly offering up my experience in DA work to avoid mistakes of the past being repeated- for that happens too often- hence this.
gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/sexu…
The content of the report should not be a revelation- they confirm what many of us have been saying publicly for years. This lecture was one of the most graphic & distressing to prepare & deliver. It was one of many platforms taken to agitate for change
Herewith @barcouncil announcement of & reaction to the Harman Report. r1.ddlnk.net/cr/AQiNsAwQ3My…
We need the response of the BSB & JCIO to the recommendations-what will be actioned, by whom & when. The Inns,circuits & chambers must act. This must not be kicked into long grass
I am proud to be associated with the activism & research that went into this excoriating report on the culture of tolerance for bullying and sexual harassment some of us have long called out & to I thank the survivors for their courage in coming forward.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
And it was a huge pleasure to meet and lead Emily James of @1gcfamilylaw.bsky.social No surprise to any of us that she took silk this year. It was a privilege to lead such an amazing team
