Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities at the Inns of Court School of Law (Barrow Inquiry)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1697 A.BARR
Held at	: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://ials.sas.ac.uk/library/archives ›
Full title	: Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities at the Inns of Court School of Law (Barrow Inquiry)
Date(s)	: 1989-1994
Level of description	: Sub-fonds of Records of Legal Education Archives View parent record
Extent	: 9 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities at the Inns of Court School of Law
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Committee of Inquiry was established in March 1993 "to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the policies and practices of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) and the Inns of Court School of Law (ICSL). The creation of the Committee was partly in response to a large disparity in pass rates between black and ethnic minority students and white students on the Bar Vocational Course (BVC), uncovered by ethnic monitoring of the 1991/1992 intake, and partly in response to the large body of complaints about the course which had been lodged with the General Council of the Bar, and the CLE itself." (Final Report, Apr 1994, Introduction 3.1 p.8). The Inquiry was chaired by Dame Jocelyn Barrow (Deputy Chairman, Broadcasting Standards Council), from whom the short title "Barrow Inquiry" derives. Its members were Ruth Deech (Principal, St Anne's College Oxford), Jo Larbie (Director of Legal Education and Training of the Legal Resources Group), Rajeev Loomba (course leader for the Legal Practice Course, University of Northumbria) and David J Smith (Senior Fellow, Policy Studies Institute). The Inquiry's terms of reference were to identify the reasons for disparities in the level of performance of ethnic minorities on the BVC from 1991/92, to investigate allegations of racial discrimination and to investigate and make recommendations on teaching, assessment and pastoral care of students and for the further development of an equal opportunities policy by the CLE. The Inquiry employed a number of research methods as follows: 1. Statistical analysis, using as a starting point Dr Christopher Dewberry's 1991/1992 analysis of disparities between white and ethnic minority student pass rates; the Inquiry conducted further similar surveys and analyses; 2. Qualitative research, including oral hearings of evidence such as interviews with students, staff, assessors, CLE and General Council of the Bar members, written submissions from interested parties, and comments from students, followed by an analysis by Dr Robin Oakley; 3. Direct observation of teaching and assessment; 4. Collection and analysis of teaching materials relating to the BVC; 5. Following the Interim Report of September 1993, provision of a formal submission from the ICSL/CLE on teaching, assessment and pastoral care; 6. Consideration of the complaints of 29 individual students; 7. Comparison of the BVC with other jurisdictions, in the UK and abroad.

Publications: Equal Opportunities at the Inns of Court School of Law: the Final Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities on the Bar Vocational Course (April 1994).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Ruth Deech, Principal, St Anne's College Oxford and a member of the Inquiry team, relating to the Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities at the Inns of Court School of Law, chaired by Dame Jocelyn Barrow (Barrow Inquiry), 1989-1994. The records do not comprise the official papers of the Inquiry, which are held elsewhere, and do not form a complete set, but they do include the bulk of the material. Most secondary source material collected during the Inquiry, such as information comparing the BVC with other jurisdictions, is not included in the papers but is listed in the Final Report of the Committee. The records consist of terms of reference and background to Inquiry, 1993-1994; direct observations of teaching and assessment, 1993; background information collected by the Inquiry, 1992-1993; information on admissions policy and procedures, 1991-1994; student questionnaire, 1993; information on assessment and review, 1990-1993; information on course content, 1990-1992; documents relating to staff training, 1992-1993; documents relating to student welfare, 1989-1994; collection and analysis of teaching materials, such as course outlines, practical training exercises, instructors' teaching packs, ICSL manuals, and printed material, 1990-1993; consideration of complaints of individual students, 1993; Interim Report of the Committee of Inquiry, 1993; CLE/ICSL response to the Interim Report, [1993]; Final Report of the Committee of Inquiry, 1994.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The list attempts to mirror the methodology of the Inquiry as closely as possible, whilst still adhering to any existing filing and numbering systems employed during the Inquiry.

Conditions governing access:

Closed for 50 years after the last date on each file, other than the printed/published material.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright declaration form to be completed.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue available at the IALS and on-line at http://ials.sas.ac.uk/archives/barrow.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The records listed below comprise papers transferred to the Records of Legal Education Archives at IALS by Mrs Ruth Deech, Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford and a member of the Inquiry team.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Annabel Dodds for the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Aug 2000