Government Legal Department
This years Annual Bar and Young Bar Conference theme was Future Proofing the Bar. Attendees heard from a range of speakers with experience from across the legal sector.
Treasury Solicitor Susanna McGibbon spoke on a panel chaired by Andy Slaughter MP, Shadow Solicitor General and with panellists Jacob Hallam KC, 6 Kings Bench Walk and Chair of Bar Councils Education and Training Committee, Fiona Rutherford, Chief Executive, JUSTICE and Jemma Tagg,Chief Executive, Twenty Essex. The panel considered careers, retention and modernisation of working practices at the Bar.
The session focussed on building careers and retention at the Bar, rather than access to the Bar.
Susanna drew on her experience as a Civil Service lawyer and her involvement in Lincolns Inn to discuss how best individuals can be supported in the first 7 years following qualification.
She noted that GLD has the benefit of a strong infrastructure to develop careers, particularly in the early years of practice. The Government Legal Profession Legal Trainee Scheme offers high quality legal training at the heart of government to trainee solicitors and pupil barristers (applications for a September 2025 start open in May 2023).
GLD trainees benefit from a structured training programme that continues post-qualification with further development through the opportunity to gain experience in both contentious and non-contentious work. The scheme ensures early exposure to a broad range of the unique work of government lawyers on which they can build a successful career.
As a Bencher at Lincolns Inn, Susanna encouraged barristers to reconnect with their Inns as they can be a great source of support, offering early years training, advice, and mentoring networks. The panel recognised the importance of mentors and role models, especially more diverse role models, for retention, and better supporting diversity and the wellbeing of colleagues.
Building on the topics of diversity and health and wellbeing, the panel looked at support on offer for those returning from career breaks. For the self-employed bar it was clear that practice management teams and the clerks are key to supporting those returning from a break.
Offering insight into the employed bar Susanna emphasised GLDs support to colleagues juggling home and work lives, encouraging a diverse workforce to fulfil its potential. GLDs flexible working offer caters to individual needs, through a wide range of working practices.
Having spoken primarily as an employer Susanna added that GLD is also a purchaser of the self-employed bar, primarily through the Attorney Generals panel of counsel. Given GLDs familiarity with the benefits of flexible working practices we hope that enables us to work in partnership with counsel who want to work flexibly.
The Chair asked the panellists about the Bar Council Report on Ethnicity and Sex of Government Panels, in which it has been found there is a lack of diversity across government panels.
Speaking from personal experience during her time as Head of Litigation in GLD, Susanna reiterated her commitment to improving the diversity of counsel used by government through improved understanding of data and better discipline in instruction practices. Susanna was pleased to say that GLD is working in partnership with the Bar Council to make progress on this commitment. The Chair of the Bar welcomed this work