Out of the closet and into chambers
The legal profession is becoming more tolerant about its members' sexuality. So why, wonders Linda Tsang, are so few lawyers prepared to be publicly identified as gay? And will we ever see a gay chambers?
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Earlier this year, 6 March was declared Teddy Witherington Day in San Francisco. This may not mean much to people outside San Francisco, but Teddy Witherington, who is the executive director of San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride, is British-born and actually started his career in London, in a City law firm.
He downplays his own day: "Teddy Witherington Day is not as grand as it sounds. Basically, the mayor of SF has it in his power to proclaim any day 'xyz day' in honour of the contribution of individuals to the city and county of SF. It's a once-only deal, not an annual event and not a holiday."
As to whether a similar day will ever be declared for a gay lawyer in London, to coincide with gay events in the capital, is a moot point. The most likely candidate may be Martin Bowley QC, who has recently retired from legal practice but will be using his time to campaign for changes in the law.
He has been involved for many years in gay and lesbian issues, and as part of the American Bar Association's Conference in London, in July 2000, as the Bar Lesbian and Gay Group (Blagg) president, he hosted a reception jointly with its American equivalent, the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association of America, and with the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association (LAGLA). At the reception, a special award was presented by Lord Justice Sedley to Peter Duffy QC's widow, in recognition of his outstanding commitment to equality during his practice at the Bar, and particularly the ways in which he initiated and inspired the lobby group Stonewall's European case-law strategy in the 1990s.
Mr Bowley is now focusing on reform of the sex-offences laws, reform of hate-crime laws, partnership recognition, and the proposed changes to employment law relating to discrimination and harassment on a number of grounds, including sexuality.
Of his time at the Bar, he says: "There are fewer problems [being gay], provided you do the work well; whether it is advocacy or advisory, the Bar is a much more open profession than it used to be, and it is enormously generous. In terms of law reform in the future, I am quietly optimistic."
For those following him in the law, the two organisations for gays and lesbians in the law are Blagg, with about 150 members, which provides a support network for lesbians and gay men at the Bar, and LAGLA, which has some 500 members who are solicitors and barristers.
The barrister Martin Downs, the outgoing convener of LAGLA, comments: "When we first started, we were getting calls from law students who feared that they would not get jobs, but we are getting less of those calls, so that's a healthy sign. It means that we can re-channel our energies into policy work, such as in the areas of civil partnership and adoption. We are also looking at changes in employment law, which makes a change from only having to deal with criminal law issues."
Another change that he has seen is an increase in requests for advice from gays and lesbians about which law firms they should use. His view is that, although that is also a sign that that sector of the public is becoming more aware about their rights, or aware that they should be protecting themselves, "using a lawyer should be a question of competence, not just sexuality".
An employment partner in a London firm, who declined to be named, agrees: "When I went to get advice about making a will, I went to the best firm rather than a gay firm because I was simply looking for the best advice."
Unlike some law firms that specialise in gay and lesbian clients, such as the largest, Burton Woods in London, there are no exclusively gay chambers. As one barrister explains: "There is not enough specialist work to justify a gay chambers, and that is quite apart from the problems with recruiting and equal-opportunities law, but it is well known that some chambers are gayer than others." Mr Bowley says: "Who would want to be a member of a chambers where you couldn't take your partner to a chambers party, or you couldn't say how you spent your weekend?"
The perception that it is easier for barristers to be open about their sexuality than for solicitors is confirmed by the meagre numbers of solicitors willing to be identified or interviewed for this article. A senior executive at the Law Society of England and Wales declined to be interviewed, and an American firm that has an openly gay chairman asked not to be named because it did not want to be known in London only for that.
There is anecdotal evidence of how difficult it can be to be "out" in the City. At one City firm, one female assistant solicitor is taken by one of the gay partners to functions. Recently, a gay solicitor was refused partnership to a City firm specifically because of his sexuality.
One partner in a London firm who agreed to be interviewed said he did not want to be named because he considers his sexuality is irrelevant to his legal skills. He says: "I want to be presented as a good lawyer. Even if I was married with kids, I would not like talking about my personal life. The other partners know I am gay, but you don't talk to clients about your private life."
He thinks that it is easier once you have reached a certain level of seniority. "At the junior level, I felt that I had be better than average to succeed because I think the partner I worked for would have used it against me; that might not be the case now. And the advantage about being senior is that if you have someone homophobic working for you, it's their problem, not mine; I'm the boss."
In fact, he is quite positive about how gays and lesbians should be seen by the legal profession, and more generally. He says: "The law is increasingly dominated by married white men, so I think that being gay is no worse than being a woman at the top of the law."
Despite leaving the legal world behind, Teddy Witherington is still aware of the problems that exist in this country. He says: "I think that in the UK, it is still awkward for gay men and lesbians to be 'out' at work in the vast majority of law offices. There is still a lot of institutionalised homophobia. I certainly felt it but, oddly, there was also an unspoken knowledge and so the partners would shovel their gay clients my way."
In the US, he says, things are different. "In the Bay Area of San Francisco, there is a very powerful organisation called Balif (Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom) consisting of lawyers, judges and other LGBT legal eagles. They march each year in our Pride Parade. And it's very empowering to see judges riding in the Gay Pride Parade, waving at the crowds, unafraid to let people know exactly who they are."