Case Study:
Legal Services Regulatory Authority

“Progress made on collecting diversity data of student barristers and trainee solicitors.

“Training providers will soon begin to collect data about the diversity of student barristers and trainee solicitors in Ireland, according to a new report.” Irish Legal News

In 2025, the Bridge Group advised the Irish regulator, the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) on its first ever coordinated diversity data collection initiative, to be undertaken in collaboration with the King’s Inns and the Law Society of Ireland (the legal training providers for barristers and solicitors in Ireland).

The advice focused on best practice for collecting diversity data on new entrants to legal practitioner training programmes and annual reporting. The Bridge Group developed a set of questions, appropriate to the Irish context, to gather data on the characteristics and socio-demographic backgrounds of aspiring solicitors and barristers. It clarified the lawful basis for gathering this data and considered the design of the collection process, how to get high response rates, the transparent public reporting of the results, and benchmarking and progress monitoring.

February 2026