UK barrister mistaken for defendant calls for compulsory anti-racism training

In the past 24 hours, she said three black QCs had got in touch with her to say they had had similar experiences. “Something needs to change because how can it be that people who are sitting as judges are being questioned as to why they’re going into certain parts of the building.”

Wilson has called for lawyers and the court system to introduce far more ambitious anti-racism training that actively tackles discrimination in the legal profession.

Wilson said she was initially stopped at the entrance by a security guard who “asked me what my name was so he could ‘find [my] name on the list’ [the list of defendants]”. She thought that might have been an “innocent mistake”.

Then a member of the public told her not to go into a courtroom and to wait for the usher to sign her in for her case. She had to explain again that she was the barrister.

When she was inside the courtroom, a barrister or solicitor told her to wait outside and see the usher. Wilson explained that she was a lawyer.

At one point on Wednesday, Wilson was shouted at and told to leave the court room by the clerk who had asked her if she was represented. She said there needs to be training to ensure respect is shown to black people in the court system – whether they are lawyers or defendants.

“If a barrister is treated like that, you wonder how a defendant’s going to be treated, and whether the defendant is going to be treated fairly. There needs to be more and better training. If there is training already for staff, it’s clearly not going far enough,” Wilson said.

“I don’t think it’s enough any more to say, ‘I don’t have racist views and therefore I’m not racist.’ I think we actually have to be consciously fighting racism.”