Eye on Cover Story
“The glass ceiling is starting to shatter but has not yet broken” The words of Moira Smyth QC, one of a group of extraordinary women in law. Women leading the way within the Barrister profession and rightly gaining recognition for their excellency in advocacy and legal knowledge, writes David Mulholland, Chief Executive of the Bar of NI.
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he Bar of Northern Ireland celebrated these women through the Justitia Project, a photographic exhibition capturing female Queens Counsel (QCs) past and present. It was apt that the exhibition took place during the week of International Women’s Day, celebrating the abundance of female talent within the barrister profession and serving to inspire and encourage the next generation of female Judges, QCs and barristers. Moira Smyth QC gave the keynote speech during the Justitia Project exhibition event. She set out the great progress that has been made in the 100 years since Frances Kyle and Averill Deverill became the first women Barristers to be called on these islands. The event was also enhanced by the contribution of The Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan, Northern Ireland’s most senior judge and the first woman to be appointed to the role. The appointment of the first Lady Chief Justice is a seminal moment for women in law. It marks
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a high-water mark in the hundred years since women were first called and follows on from the advances made by figures such as Mary Lenaghan (later, Mary McAleese. President Of Ireland), the first female member of the Bar Council and Eilis McDermott QC, the first female QC in this jurisdiction. While we look forward to a day when, due to further progress and sustained change, we may no longer need to highlight the specific role of Women in Law, nevertheless the evolution of the role of women in the profession over the past 100 years deserves special recognition. It should be of comfort and encouragement to our clients who, put their trust and needs into our hands, to see that the Bar is a meritocracy and one which is working hard to be more reflective of a society with a diverse membership that can empathise with the lived experiences that they have. Nonetheless there is much more to be done. As Martin Luther King Jr observed
Moira Smyth QC gave the keynote speech during the Justitia Project exhibition event.
“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” Women are still underrepresented in the Barrister profession at present. Females account for only 35-40% of Barristers working in Northern Ireland, and yet make up less than 20% of the total number of QCs practicing in our jurisdiction. The retention and advancement of women in law remains a key challenge. Despite entering the profession in equal proportions as men for more than two decades, the level of retention and the proportion
