The courts service in England and Wales has been forced to apologise for a second time in three months after a barrister of colour was mistaken for a defendant twice in one day.
Pupil barrister Luke McLean was assumed to be the defendant at a London magistrates court last week, when he asked a member of the courtroom staff if the boards listing the day’s cases were accurate as his client was not on the list.
“I’m wearing a three-piece suit, and you ask things in a different way as a professional than you would as a defendant. I think I was carrying my laptop, too,” McLean said.
“But the first thing he responded was, are you the defendant? He didn’t ask if I was the barrister, or the probation officer. I could have been anybody. But the first assumption he makes is that I’m the defendant.”
When McLean went to the administration desk to make sure his client was on the list for the day’s proceedings, a staff member asked if he had received a court summons letter, again implying he was the defendant.
A spokesperson for the Courts and Tribunals Service said they were “deeply sorry” for the “unacceptable experience”, just three months after apologising to barrister Alexandra Wilson after she was mistaken for a defendant three times in one day.
Wilson tweeted that McLean’s experience was “ridiculous”.
“Why hasn’t every single employee been briefed that all they need to do is *ASK* how they can help? Honestly if it takes cue cards spelling out how to address court users then so be it,” she wrote.
McLean said while the incident was “disheartening”, it was not rare.
“It happens a lot in different contexts, from court staff to probation offers and list callers,” he said. “The first thing you do in court is go past security, who have a list of all the defendants due to attend court. Many times I’ve had security ask who I am, looking at the list, and asking where I am on the list. You have list callers shouting the names of defendants, and looking at me.
“There’s a preconception that because I’m a young person of colour, I couldn’t be the barrister.”
McLean said he was inundated with messages from other people of colour about similar experiences they had had in the judicial system and beyond. He called for better training for all court staff about racial biases, but said the issue was far wider than the judicial system.
“If these assumptions didn’t exist in society generally, they wouldn’t exist in our courts,” he said. “There’s no point having an isolated discussion about systemic racism in courts. I think all workplaces need to encourage this type of training. I don’t want this happening again to anybody.”
In a statement, the Courts and Tribunals Service said it remained “completely committed to playing our part in tackling discrimination”.
The body has been developing a Race Action Plan which works with court users and representatives to improve the experience of people of colour in the courts system, and has recently established a network for minority ethnic staff. They are also in the process of extending their race awareness training to all employees.
“We know there is more to do – open forums are already being held to improve our understanding of the challenges minority ethnic colleagues face and race awareness training is being extended for all staff,” a spokesperson said.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
