Barristers’ Core Duty Eight currently requires members of the Bar not to discriminate unlawfully against any person. However, the Bar Standards Board now wishes to go further and create a new duty requiring barristers positively to advance equality, diversity and inclusion in their professional lives.

In this episode of Double Jeopardy, hosts Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen look at the row this proposal has sparked. Joining them is Karon Monaghan KC, a barrister specialising in equality and human rights law from Matrix Chambers, who provides insight into the implications of the proposed change, arguing that it does not represent the unwelcome imposition of a contested (American) ideology originating in the frenetic racial politics of that country, but is simply a necessary evolution in the duty to promote a diverse and inclusive bar. She suggests that reasonable steps towards progress, rather than quotas in all but name, are the goal.

The episode also covers recent legal developments impacting women’s sex-based rights. And as she prepares, along with Beth Grossman, to argue a landmark case in the Supreme Court, which will determine once and for all the legal definition of a woman, Karon provides insight into a pivotal question: Should a trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate be legally recognised as a woman under the Equality Act? The answer will have major ramifications for all sex-based rights in the UK.

Tune in to hear Ken, Tim, and Karon navigate the legal complexities surrounding EDI and Core Duty Eight and explore what these shifts might mean for the future of barristers’ professional obligations.

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