Harriet Harman has written a report that has highlighted the endemic bullying and sexual harassment at the Bar. I know where I’m based we are all required by chambers to complete training about the issues she’s raised.
My gut feeling is that it’s got better and that it will hopefully continue to improve as the old dinosaurs die out. When I started out, pupils were still being treated pretty badly and women, particularly young attractive ones, faced sexual harassment. At some formal events there was a thing known as “top table totty” where the prettiest young juniors would be selected to sit at the top table with the crusty old judges, some of which had creepy wandering hands. I don’t really go to those events any more but I would assume (hope) that doesn’t still happen. We are also much better at mentoring systems and more formal and informal channels of communication to hopefully make junior members feel more empowered to speak up.
The reality is, these issues still exist in the way I suspect they do in most professions where there is such a stark hierarchy but there are an increasing number of people who won’t now tolerate what we had to put up with.