The courts service in England and Wales has issued an apology after a barrister of color was mistaken for a defendant twice in one day.
As reported by The Guardian, pupil barrister Luke McLean opened up about an incident that occurred last week in which he was assumed to be the defendant at a London magistrates court.
He had asked someone from the courtroom staff if the boards which listed the day's cases were accurate, as he was unable to find his client on the list. In response, the staff member asked if McLean was "the defendant".
"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."
A similar incident happened again later that day when McLean went over to the administration desk to see if his client was on the list.
A staff member then asked the barrister if he had received a court summons letter, which implied again that he was the defendant.
McLean tweeted about the incidents, writing: "Just another day… mistaken as the Defendant in the Magistrates Court by the list caller…"
A spokesperson for the Courts and Tribunals Service said they were "deeply sorry" for the "unacceptable experience".
Furthermore, it said it remained "completely committed" to playing its part "in tackling discrimination".
The body said it would be putting in place a Race Action Plan in order to improve the experiences of people of color in the court's system. They also plan to extend 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.
This comes just three months after the Courts and Tribunals Service was forced to apologise to barrister Alexandra Wilson after she was mistaken for a defendant three times in one day.
McLean said although this sort of thing was "disheartening", it was not rare.
"It happens a lot in different contexts, from court staff to probation offers and list callers," he said, adding: "There's a preconception that because I’m a young person of colour, I couldn’t be the barrister."
"If these assumptions didn’t exist in society generally, they wouldn't exist in our courts," he said.
