Bar Council working group reviews future of court dress
Senior judicial figures are reportedly in talks with the Bar Council about scrapping barristers’ wigs, which could mark the end of the historic headwear.
The requirement for some barristers to wear the traditional horsehair has come under fire from a number of lawyers who say it discriminates against people with Afro-Caribbean hair, The Telegraph reports.
“Following questions from barristers about wigs and hair discrimination, the Bar Council set up a working group to consider court dress in the context of all protected characteristics,” the Bar Council said.
“The findings of the working group are currently being discussed with the judiciary as part of our regular dialogue on equality and diversity matters,” it added.
Since changes in 2007 not all barristers have been required to wear wigs, with the rules excluding family, civil, and Supreme Court cases.
A spokesman for the judiciary is reported as saying that, “senior judges are in active discussions with the Bar Council about the findings of their working group on court dress”.
“We welcome these discussions as part of our continuing joint work on diversity and inclusion in the legal profession,” they added.
Back in 2022, Garden Court barrister Professor Leslie Thomas QC branded wigs a “ridiculous anachronism” that has no place in a “modern legal profession”, adding that they “reek of privilege and exclusion”.
“I cannot see the point of them” he continued, before noting that the cost of a wig could be “disconcerting to less well-off members of society who wish to enter the profession”.
As yet, however, no decision has been made.
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