According to the much esteemed ‘Counsel’ magazine, The Bar Council is soon to publish a ‘Guidance and best practice document for women planning to take maternity leave’. It goes like this: ‘1. Don’t. 2. In the alternative, don’t come back.’. Fnar.

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But seriously, this is good news, always assuming that the description above is a slip of Tim Dutton QC’s pen rather than an indication that it’s guidance for the women who are going on maternity leave in particular rather than for the Bar in general – generally speaking those of us who are or have been in that situation are relatively clued up – and frankly we just get on with it. It’s the other chaps that might need a bit of guidance on how to make returning to the bar a little more manageable. And after all it’s the bar collectively / chambers that has the equality duty to discharge, not the individual pregnant barrister.

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I’ve no idea what it will say, but I will link to the guidance when it becomes available.