We understand the importance of looking after the environment around us and we are continuously looking for ways to minimise the impact we have individually and as a Chambers.

• We recycle wherever possible, including our confidential waste.
• We use local businesses where possible to minimise delivery distance. For example, for our fruit, fresh produce and flowers are locally sourced.
• We have recently replaced single use plastic bottled water with an in house filtered water system.
• Our current project is to reduce our energy usage by transitioning to LED lighting and using movement sensors instead of light switches where practical.

Serle Court is a proud member of the Bar Council Sustainability Network.

Serle Court has an established Equality, Diversity and Wellbeing Committee and a Chambers Health & Wellbeing Policy with the work of that committee overseen by the Management Committee thereby ensuring it has the widest application to all aspects of Chambers.

Work/life balance is a central pillar of the Serle Court ethos.  Barristers take breaks, sabbaticals and manage their workloads supported by the clerks.  Annual practice review meetings (PRM) provide an opportunity for members to discuss with clerks, the Chief Executive and the Business Development Manager how they see their commitments unfolding in the next year such that workload can be managed to achieve the right balance.

We are formulating a series of health and wellbeing related initiatives as part of chambers’ wellbeing strategy, as we believe that a healthy and well-motivated chambers will enhance our productiveness and effectiveness. We aim to encourage and facilitate working practices and services that support the health and wellbeing of barristers, pupils and staff.

Serle Court is delighted to have received a Wellbeing Certificate of Recognition from The Bar Council by demonstrating chambers’ dedication and commitment to the wellbeing of its barristers and staff through our policies, and wellbeing programmes.

Our Chief Executive, John Petrie, contributed with an article for the Law Society Gazette titled 'Well, being kind is the key ingredient to business success'. To access the article, please click here. 

We have been shortlisted for Best Chambers for Work/Life balance by the Legal Cheek Awards 2021. More information can be found here. 

We ensure that all employees and externally contracted companies are paid at least the London Living Wage.

Several members of Chambers support charities and/or regularly volunteer their time for initiatives and organisations (selection below).  We have a trustee on the Access to Justice Foundation and provide annual support to the Free Representation Unit (FRU).

Advocate - Several members of chambers regularly undertake instructions from Advocate (previously the Bar Pro Bono Unit), taking on cases and offering advice and representation free of charge. Other members of chambers act as case reviewers for Advocate and two members are Pro Bono Champions having secured sizeable costs orders in favour of Advocate following successful hearings.

CLIPS –  Many members of chambers volunteer their time to the Chancery Bar Litigant in Person Support Scheme (CLIPS), a successful scheme run by the Chancery Bar Association to provide legal advice and representation for litigants in person at the Chancery Applications Court.

PILARS – the Personal Insolvency Litigation Advice and Representation Scheme (PILARS) is co-run by a member of chambers.

South Westminster Legal Advice Centre – Co-founded by a member of chambers over 20 years ago, members of chambers have attended throughout this time to offer legal advice (and letter writing) locally and free of charge for those who would not otherwise have the means to pay for it.  

Serle Court and a large number of individual members of Chambers support charities and/or regularly volunteer their time to initiatives and organisations. 

Members of chambers are trustees of charities operating in a range of sectors including justice, education and with underrepresented socio-economic groups, as well as global activities from Guatemala to Rwanda.   

In addition to individual fundraising efforts by its members, Serle Court supports charitable causes and events as per list below.

• London Legal Walk
• Serle Court Cup
• Standard Chartered City Race 
• Small Films - Buy1Give1 project
• Open University BAME Networking Event
   

Many members of chambers act as mentors for the Social Mobility Foundation.

The following are some examples of Chambers-wide social mobility and access to the Bar initiatives currently being undertaken.

• The Pegasus Access and Support Scheme (PASS) aims to improve access to the Bar and to support high achieving students from under-represented backgrounds by providing experiences they need to be able to thrive at the Bar.
• Lauriston Lights is an organisation that runs a programme for bright 11-year-olds from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds to fulfil their potential both personally and academically.  Chambers provides a legal workshop at the organisation’s annual summer school.
• Chambers provides legal principles workshop evenings in chambers for bright 15-18 year-olds from state schools who are being encouraged (via the charity Oxbridge Prospects) to apply to elite universities.

Serle Court recognises the importance of providing a positive and supportive working environment for our barristers and staff and has done so for several years.  As a growing chambers, we acknowledge the importance of maintaining a collegiate working environment and the need to ensure that all of our policies and practices enable us to do this. 

Serle Court has an established Equality, Diversity and Wellbeing Committee with the work of that committee overseen by the Management Committee thereby ensuring it has the widest application to all aspects of Chambers. We also have a member on the Chancery Bar E&D Committee.

Serle Court’s Equality and Diversity policy aims include:

• to secure equality of opportunity in every area of its activities.
• to treat its members, pupils, employees, clients and the public with respect.
• to observe and endorse the relevant provisions of the Code of Conduct and the Equality and Diversity Code, particularly when discharging any duties in the management of Chambers.
• to strive to ensure that Chambers does not directly or indirectly discriminate against any current or prospective member, pupil, employee or client on any improper ground, such as age; disability; gender reassignment; marital or civil partnership status; pregnancy or maternity; race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin; religion or belief; sex and sexual orientation.
   

10,000 Black Interns

Serle Court is delighted to announce its participation in the 10,000 Black Interns scheme from November 2022, a programme aimed at transforming the horizons of young Black talent with paid internships across over 25 sectors.

The scheme was set up in 2022 in response to the stark underrepresentation of Black talent in the founders’ industries. Initially, the group aimed to place 100 Black students and graduates in internship positions within investment managing – a goal that was quickly eclipsed.

Following the success of the pilot, the goalposts were moved to 10,000 Black interns in five years. With 2,500+ internships already offered to Black students and graduates, the scheme is fast on its way to its next milestone.

Serle Court will be joining the programme’s ‘Legal: The Bar’ offering, giving Black students and graduates the opportunity to gain insight into the lives of barristers and providing them with invaluable skills should they wish to pursue a career at the Bar, or indeed any other facet of the legal industry.  This partnership joins Serle Court’s growing commitment to diversity and inclusion.

BUCKLESconnect & Serle Court Roundtable: Getting women and their advocates on board in law

Serle Court was delighted to co-host a roundtable event with BUCKLESconnect - ‘Getting women and their advocates on-board in law’ - on Thursday, 22nd September, to mark ‘Happiness at Work Week'.

Senior leaders in the legal industry will share their experiences balancing career and home life and illustrate why having a diverse workforce with a women-smart culture improves workplace performance.

Please click here for our Article in LegalWomen magazine regarding this event. 

Diversity in Cricket: two Jewish Internationals tell their stories 

Serle Court’s EDI committee and Daniel Lightman KC, co-author of the acclaimed book ‘Cricket Grounds from the Air', were delighted to host Diversity in Cricket: two Jewish Internationals tell their stories, an event at the world's oldest sporting museum - The MCC Museum, Lord’s Cricket Ground. 

The event introduced an extraordinary exhibition, opened by the President of the MCC, Stephen Fry, and the Chief Rabbi, recently featured in The Times. Daniel Lightman KC has also been interviewed on the topic for Sky News. Please see the social media coverage below.

• Maccabi GB 
• Zaki Cooper's LinkedIn page
   

Curated by Daniel jointly with Zaki Cooper, the exhibition celebrates the contribution of Jewish cricketers to the sport for the first time. It features the stories of top Jewish cricketers worldwide, including Australia, England, Ireland, South Africa and the West Indies, as well as addressing Jewish cricket at the grassroots level in Israel and the Maccabiah. It uses cricket clothing and equipment, artwork, books, video and other material to tell the story of how the Jewish community has contributed to the game of cricket while also considering the prevalence of anti-Semitism in cricket and its impact on Jewish cricketers.

Serle Court welcomed their guests Julien Wiener and Mandy Yachad, who respectively opened the batting for Australia and South Africa. They featured in the exhibition and discussed their cricketing careers and backgrounds, along with their thoughts on the Ashes in the build-up to the Lord’s Test against Australia, in conversation with Ruth Jordan of Serle Court, a keen cricketing fan. Daniel Lightman introduced the exhibition, to which guests had exclusive access during the event. 

The event received substantial press attention. Please find the coverage below:

•  The Times by Jonathan Ames
• The Times by Catherine Baksi 
•  Lords
•  cricexec
• The Jewish Chronicle
   

The link below shows a summary of the diversity data collected by Serle Court in April 2019. Click here to view our diversity data.

Please visit our Equality, Diversity & Outreach page to read in detail about Serle Court's EDI and outreach work.