A Gresham lecture that Delahunty gave in November 2017 was one of the first public identifications of the exodus of experienced women from the self-employed Bar - and gave a call for action. That loss affects the number of women who take Silk and that, in turn, drains the pool from which judges are largely drawn.

In 2018 the Bar Council and Specialist Bar Associations acknowledged the issue and a “Retention of Women at the Bar’ survey was launched. It’s time to look at the results and test how the legal profession has responded to the challenge.

A lecture by Jo Delahunty QC, Gresham Professor of Law 28 November

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/100-years-women-in-law

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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