Garden Court Chambers wins Outstanding Contribution to Diversity & Inclusion Award at Chambers Bar Awards 2019

In addition, Sonali Naik QC of Garden Court Chambers won the Highly Commended Award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity & Inclusion Award (Individual) and Judy Khan QC, Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers won Crime Silk of the Year. 

Founded on a commitment to social justice, Garden Court Chambers has always prided itself on a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

We pay special tribute to Mia Hakl-Law, Director of Operations and HR at Garden Court for spearheading and championing our work on diversity and inclusion together with many others within our chambers. We are the most diverse set of chambers in the country. 48% of our barristers are women and 26% of our barristers are from ethnic minorities. 58% of our staff are women and 26% are from ethnic minorities. 

This award recognises how our own commitment to diversity and inclusion is driving positive change within the wider legal profession, through initiatives such as the Garden Court mentoring scheme for students from minority and disadvantaged groups to consider a career at the Bar. This scheme was singled out for special praise by the Diversity & Inclusion team at Chambers & Partners.

Our ‘Access to the Bar for All’ mentoring scheme offers mentoring for five years and paid internships at Garden Court. Students in the scheme have the opportunity to be awarded a £7000 per year scholarship to assist with living expenses at university if they go on to study a law degree.

Barristers from Garden Court provide mentoring to students over the course of five years. The current mentor barristers are: Ann Osborne, Anya Lewis, Connor Johnston, Gemma Loughran, Helen Curtis, Irena Sabic, Jo Cecil, Marina Sergides, Mark Gatley, Mukhtiar Singh, Paul Clark.