The UK legal system has made progress towards promoting equality and diversity in recent years, but there is still more work to be done.
One of the key pieces of legislation in this area is the Equality Act 2010, which protects individuals from discrimination on the grounds of nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
The legal system also strives to ensure that diverse perspectives are represented in the judiciary and legal profession. In 2017, the Judicial Appointments Commission introduced a diversity and inclusion strategy to encourage greater diversity among judicial candidates.
However, there are still disparities in the representation of certain groups within the legal profession and the judiciary. For example, women and individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds are still under-represented in senior positions.
In addition, there have been concerns raised about the treatment of individuals from certain groups within the criminal justice system. For example, research has shown that black and minority ethnic individuals are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police, and are overrepresented in the prison population.
Overall, while progress has been made towards promoting equality and diversity within the UK legal system, there is still more work to be done.