Barristers in England and Wales are specialist advocates and advisers who provide expert legal services when representing their lay and professional clients in courts and other legal contexts.

Barristers are entitled to hold a Practising Certificate upon their successful completion of pupillage. This is renewed annually and grants them the right to practise as barristers. All barristers with Practising Certificates may work as self-employed barristers, employed barristers or as dual practitioners. The majority are self-employed.

The following charts represent a snapshot of practising barristers as of 1 December in the years presented, except for the chart on all called to the Bar during the year. 

All practising barristers

Bar chart showing number of all practising barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. The number has increased from 16982 in December 2019 to 17782 in December 2023 Bar chart showing gender breakdown of all practising barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 10311 male barristers and 6884 female barristers. Chart showing ethnicity of all practising barristers as of December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 2762 Minority Ethnic barristers and 13788 White barristers. Chart showing age range of all practising barristers as of December each year. In 2023 3018 were aged under 35, 4359 were 35-44, 4231 were 45-54, and 4187 were aged over 55

Self-employed practitioners

Self-employed barristers work in chambers (which employ administrative and management staff funded by members' "rent") or work alone as sole practitioners.

Bar chart showing number of all self employed practising barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. The number has increased from 13434 in December 2019 to 14158 in December 2023 Bar chart showing gender breakdown of all self employed practising barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 8425 male barristers and 5258 female barristers. Chart showing ethnicity of self employed practising barristers as of December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 2055 Minority Ethnic barristers and 11208 White barristers. Chart showing age range of self employed practising Bar as of December each year. In 2023 2576 were aged under 35, 3382 were 35-44, 3219 were 45-54, and 3371 were aged over 55

Sole practitioners

Bar chart showing number of sole practitioner barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. The number has increased from 609 in December 2019 to 630 in December 2023 Bar chart showing gender breakdown of sole practitioners as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 403 male barristers and 212 female barristers. Chart showing ethnicity of sole practitioners as of December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 174 Minority Ethnic barristers and 387 White barristers. Chart showing age range of sole practitioners as of December each year. In 2023 8 were aged under 35, 76 were 35-44, 132 were 45-54, and 272 were aged over 55

Dual capacity practitioners

Barristers who practise in a dual capacity undertake employed and self-employed work.

Bar chart showing number of dual capacity barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. The number has increased from 474 in December 2019 to 508 in December 2023 Bar chart showing gender breakdown of dual capacity barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 343 male barristers and 158 female barristers. Chart showing ethnicity of dual capacity barristers as of December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 142 Minority Ethnic barristers and 316 White barristers. Chart showing age range of dual capacity barristers as of December each year. In 2023 95 were aged under 35, 116 were 35-44, 118 were 45-54, and 123 were aged over 55

Employed practitioners

Employed barristers are practising barristers who work either under a contract of employment, or under a written contract for services which is for a determinate period, or by virtue of an office under the Crown (such as the Crown Prosecution Service) or in the institutions of the European Union.

Bar chart showing number of employed barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. The number has increased from 3074 in December 2019 to 3116 in December 2023 Bar chart showing gender breakdown of employed barristers as of 1 December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 1543 male barristers and 1468 female barristers. Chart showing ethnicity of employed barristers as of December each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 there were 565 Minority Ethnic barristers and 2264 White barristers. Chart showing age range of employed barristers as of December each year. In 2023, 347 were aged under 35, 861 were 35-44, 894 were 45-54, and 693 were aged over 55

The Practising Bar at less than 5 years of Call

Chart showing the number of those called to the Bar over time. In 2022/23 there were 1909 barristers called to the Bar Chart showing the total number of practising barristers at under 5 years of call. As of December 2023, 1569 practising barristers had been called less than 5 years earlier Chart showing the total number of practising barristers at under 5 years of call by gender. As of December 2023, 760 female and 695 male practising barristers had been called less than 5 years earlier Chart showing the ethnicity of practising barristers at under 5 years of call. As of December 2023, 291 Minority ethnic and 1181 white practising barristers had been called less than 5 years earlier Chart showing age range of practising barristers at under 5 years of call. As of December 2023, the vast majority of such barristers fell into the 25-34 age range

The Practising Bar at 15+ years of Call

Chart showing the total number of practising barristers who were called more than 15 years ago. As of December 2023, 11476 practising barristers had been called more than 15 years ago Chart showing the gender of practising barristers who were called more than 15 years ago. As of December 2023, 3998 of this group were female and 7200 were male Chart showing the ethnicity of practising barristers who were called more than 15 years ago. As of December 2023, 1649 of this group were from a minority ethnic group and 8846 were White Chart showing age range of practising barristers who were called more than 15 years ago. As of December 2023, the majority of such barristers were aged 45-64.

We publish annual data on diversity at the Bar which is available from our Regular Research publications page.

Caveats

* Please note that reporting mechanisms have changed over the past years. As a result of sourcing from various data streams and the implementation of more robust quality assurance structures some numbers may vary from previous publications. 

 ** We gather diversity data for individual barristers via the "MyBar" online portal, as part of the Authorisation to Practise process, using a Legal Services Board-designed form. Provision of the data is voluntary because data protection laws dictate that people - in any profession - cannot be obliged to disclose equality and diversity data about themselves if they do not wish to do so. 

Date of next update

February 2025

Source of data

This data is sourced from the Bar Standards Board Database.

 
Last updated 10 Jun 2024