Spotlight Series: ‘Championing Access to Opportunity in British Institutions’ with Barbara Mills KC
Join us for an evening in conversation with Barbara Mills KC, a specialist family practitioner and Joint Head of Chambers at 4pb, Co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Race Working Group (RWG) and a member of Circle Square.
Barbara will share her personal career journey from her Call to the Bar, to embracing out of court solutions and especially mediation in response to the devastating effect of the adversarial court system on families in crisis. Barbara’s most recent pro bono work focuses on tackling the systemic lack of diversity at the Bar. Her talk will culminate in a Q&A with leading family lawyer, Jane McDonagh, to discuss the latest findings of the RWG and its recommendations for the Bar Council and Bar-based stakeholders. Barbara’s leadership in addressing underrepresentation of barristers from ethnic minority backgrounds and breaking down barriers to talent progression, especially for Black and Asian women, is making a difference in her industry and wider society.
The Bar’s culture, tradition and shape were informed by the circumstances and experiences of its founding fathers – white men from privileged backgrounds. That inevitably created a system which has, at its very core, the notion that whiteness is the norm and as a result it perpetuates structural and systemic unfairness obstacles to those who enter the profession from a variety of other backgrounds and heritage.
It is our privilege to offer the opportunity to hear first-hand how, in keeping with the Circle Square ethos, Barbara is putting her wisdom to work for the good of the next generation of barristers.
Doors open at 6pm for a 6:30pm start.