Bar training > Barristers and pupils

Anti-bullying and anti- harassment training for barristers and pupils.

Built for barristers and pupils regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Aligned with the Harman Review, the Commissioner for Conduct protocols and the Bar Council's Toolkit on managing bullying and harassment.
120 minutes of verifiable CPD in Comprehensive Programme
Includes BSB Core Duties & Conduct Rules
Includes Bar Council Toolkit training elements
Personal liabilities clearly explained

Written for the regulated Bar.

Barristers and pupils answer to the Bar Standards Board and to their chambers. An allegation of bullying or harassment can trigger both a BSB regulatory investigation and an internal chambers investigation. A finding of misconduct can lead to disciplinary sanctions, damage to a practice and even risk to a future judicial career.

This programme covers regulatory reporting routes & safeguards, professional and behavioural obligations, focussed modules on bullying, unlawful harassment and sexual harassment, with focus on third party harassment, bystander intervention and the consequences of misconduct, with barrister-specific examples across every topic.

This programme is written for the regulated Bar, not adapted from a generic course.

Choose your programme level.

Recommended

Comprehensive (barristers & pupils)

£180 (plus VAT)

Per person
£150 (plus VAT) for 100 or more licenses
120 minutes | Verifiable CPD | Six modules
For a deeper command of the regulatory, contractual and behavioural obligations, extended scenarios and the full account of personal liability.


Foundation (barristers & pupils)

£70 (plus  VAT)

Per person
45 minutes | No CPD
For essential-level awareness of the same topics, delivered faster. Ideal as a refresher or where time or budget is limited.
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Buying for chambers staff too? Add the staff programme to the same cart and check out once

What does the Comprehensive Programme cover?

Six modules, 120 minutes, tailored throughout for barristers and pupils.

Module 1: Introduction (6 minutes)

  • Context: the culture of silence, untouchable perpetrators, fear of career damage and retaliation, low confidence in the complaints process.
  • Correcting myths on how the Equality Act and the Protection from Harassment Act apply.
  • The Harman Review and the Bar Council, BSB and judicial response: changing the culture of the Bar.
  • Flexible learning and module timings.

Module 2: Regulatory Reporting & Safeguards (22 minutes)

  • The Commissioner for Conduct, role explained.
  • Talk to Spot: engaging the Commissioner, with a demonstration.
  • Talk to Spot's four-step process.
  • How the Commissioner decides whether behaviour may amount to serious misconduct, requiring referral to the BSB.
  • Who acts on your report.
  • What else your Spot record can do.
  • Conduct Rule changes: target and confidant exemptions, the revised third-party threshold, a second approved reporting route, the new definition of bullying.
  • Bar Council helpline and support services explained.
  • The BSB duty to report, including self-reporting.
  • Live links to the BSB Handbook, the Equality Rules and the Reporting Serious Misconduct Guidance.

  • BSB Core Duties and Conduct Rules on bullying and harassment.
  • The BSB direct reporting portal, with a demonstration.
  • The Victim Support helpline shown.
  • The informal reporting pathway to the Commissioner for Conduct or a senior member of the Bar, and the formal JCIO portal - for concerns about judicial behaviour.
  • Learning summary and quiz.

Module 3: Behavioural Standards (10 minutes)

  • Your contractual obligations: chambers constitution, tenancy and pupillage agreement, policies.
  • Standards of behaviour, expressed and implied.
  • Below-threshold behaviour: Bar Council Toolkit examples.
  • Chambers behaviour, equality and inclusion policies, per Bar Council recommendations.
  • Other policy areas: social media, IT, confidentiality, GDPR, intimate relationships.
  • What behaviour you can expect from others.
  • The Core Duties and Conduct Rules on bullying and harassment.
  • Learning summary and quiz.

Module 4: Anti-Bullying Training (28 minutes)

  • The definitions of bullying.
  • Where and when bullying happens at the Bar.
  • How bullying happens.
  • Types of bullying, with Bar-specific examples for barristers and pupils.
  • Common excuses and cultural defences, and how to respond to them.
  • Who is responsible for eliminating bullying, tailored for barristers and pupils.
  • Core Duties and Conduct Rules, a reminder, including when reporting is needed.
  • Handling bullying if it happens to you: what to say, internal help, evidence, support, and the informal and formal reporting pathways.
  • Being an active bystander, zero tolerance, the five Ds, and the bystander duty to report serious misconduct.
  • Professional consequences of a bullying finding, including BSB investigation and disciplinary action, chambers action, and risk to practice and a future judicial career.
  • The benefits of calling out bullying.
  • Learning summary and quiz.

Module 5: Unlawful Harassment Training (30 minutes)

  • How unlawful harassment related to a protected characteristic fits into discrimination.
  • The definition you need to know.
  • The seven protected characteristics.
  • What counts as unwanted conduct.
  • What "related to" means.
  • Purpose and effect.
  • Bar-specific visual examples of each protected characteristic.
  • Victimisation explained.
  • The detriments you might see at the Bar, tailored for barristers and pupils.
  • Barrister and pupil visual examples of unlawful harassment, victimisation and detriments.
  • Handling unlawful harassment if it happens to you.
  • Judicial harassment: informal and formal pathways.
  • Third-party harassment: Bar Council Toolkit guidance, how to handle it, what to say, support, evidence and all pathways.
  • Being an active bystander, a reminder.
  • The professional and career consequences for a barrister or pupil alleged or found to have unlawfully harassed someone.
  • Learning summary and quiz.

Module 6: Sexual Harassment Training (25 minutes)

  • How sexual harassment fits into discrimination.
  • What sexual harassment is.
  • What "less favourable treatment" means.
  • Less favourable treatment must relate to gender reassignment or sex, but conduct of a sexual nature does not have to relate to any protected characteristic.
  • Unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, with examples.
  • Victimisation, a reminder, and the barrister and pupil detriments you might see at the Bar.
  • Barrister and pupil visual examples of sexual harassment, less favourable treatment, victimisation and detriments.
  • Handling sexual harassment if it happens to you.
  • Third-party harassment: how to handle it, including your professional reporting responsibilities.
  • Being an active bystander, a reminder.
  • The professional and career consequences for a barrister or pupil alleged or found to have sexually harassed someone.
  • Criminal harassment in the workplace - related to sex amounting to a hate crime.
  • Learning summary and quiz.

What does the Foundation Programme cover?

Foundation covers the same topics as Comprehensive in less depth. It's 45 minutes long and it does not include CPD hours.
  • Bar context and the Harman Review — the culture the review identified, and how the Bar Council, BSB and judiciary have responded.
  • Regulatory reporting routes & safeguards — the Commissioner for Conduct and Talk to Spot, reporting directly to the BSB, the reporting thresholds and exemptions, judicial conduct reporting and where to find the BSB rules.
  • Behavioural standards and policies — where your obligations come from (chambers constitution, tenancy and pupillage agreements, chambers policies), plus the Bar Council's own behavioural guidance.
  • The law in essence — clear definitions of bullying, unlawful harassment and sexual harassment, the core legal tests, Bar-specific examples, third-party harassment and hate crime rolling from sex-based hostility.
  • Practical skills — how to be an active bystander, the five Ds, and how to raise a concern if it happens to you.
  • Consequences — what a finding of bullying or harassment can mean for you personally as well as your practice.

How the training works.

  • Self-paced online video.
  • Interactive knowledge checks and quizzes.
  • A personal login to a secure platform.
  • A dashboard showing progress and completion.
  • Start, pause and resume at any time.
  • A time-stamped completion certificate.
  • 120 minutes of qualifying CPD for practising barristers on the Comprehensive Programme.

Built by experts in bullying and harassment.

Julia Gidney, Founder, Wdidi

Founder Julia Gidney is a former leading employment law partner at top UK firms and Group Head of People and Compliance for major international organisations, with more than 30 years front-line experience. Julia leads all Wdidi content and brings in recognised leading Bar experts to validate it.

Common questions.

How much CPD does the Comprehensive Programme provide?

The Comprehensive Programme carries 120 minutes of verifiable CPD for practising barristers. This is generated by platform activity and evidenced by a time-stamped completion certificate, which is useful for chambers governance and if the learner is ever asked to demonstrate their CPD record. The Foundation Programme carries no CPD.

Why do barristers need training separate from chambers staff?

Barristers and pupils have different professional responsibilities from chambers staff and different routes to individual and collective liability for bullying and harassment. They're regulated by the BSB and are most often, though not always, self-employed. An allegation of harassment or serious instances of bullying, can trigger both a BSB investigation and a chambers investigation (or an employer's investigation, if the barrister is employed). A finding can carry serious personal and practice consequences and damage prospects for a future judicial career.  This programme addresses both barristers' and pupils' rights and obligations, with barrister-specific examples throughout and gives regulated learners a working understanding of the rights and obligations of the chambers employees and workers they work alongside.

How is this different from the Bar Council's own bullying & harassment course of similar duration?

The Wdidi Comprehensive programme and the Bar Council's course ("Tackling harassment, bullying and inappropriate behaviours") are both 120-minute, Bar-specific programmes. Both offer 120 minutes of CPD. The Bar Council course runs as a one-time Zoom session at £190 (+VAT) - correct as at time of creation of this FAQ. Wdidi's Comprehensive Programme is an on-demand online E-learning programme with 12 months' access at £180 (+VAT), or £150 (+VAT) for bulk purchase. Wdidi offers role-specific modules, auto-enrolment and a completion audit trail with bespoke options.

Is the training kept up to date as the rules change?

Yes. Content is reviewed whenever the Bar Council or BSB announce post-Harman updates or when the BSB Handbook, Conduct Rules or Bar Council bullying and harassment Toolkit change. Updates appear in learner dashboards in real time so there's no need to wait for a scheduled refresh.

Enrol your barristers and pupils.

Training staff as well? See the programme for chambers employees and workers.

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