Mini Biography – Abdul Jinadu

Abdul Jinadu

In one sense I had an entirely conventional route to the Commercial Bar. I went to private school and Oxbridge. The difference is that I did this while Black and over 20 years ago. My education helped as did the fact that my mother was a barrister and my father was judge, both practising in Nigeria. They had been called to the English Bar and I had many close relatives who were also barristers.

However, despite these obvious advantages, the Commercial Bar was still an at times hostile place. I have had experiences which I am sure are common to Black barristers including the old chestnut of being mistaken for the defendant when you go to court or the casually racist comment which I was expected to ignore.

I have been told that I am the first ethnic minority member of TecBar (the specialist Bar Association for barristers practicing in construction).  From my experience I have no reason to doubt that this is true and the sad fact is that today, more than 20 years later, the numbers have not improved dramatically at the Commercial Bar. In cases in court in the UK it is almost always the rule that I am the only Black face in the room apart from the occasional court staff. In international arbitration things are a little different particularly when the arbitration is in Africa or if you have African parties. One deceptively small but practically significant improvement has been the advent of photographs on chamber’s website. My name is not immediately placeable unless you are familiar with Nigerian names so in the early days I had to deal with the quickly suppressed shock of some clients when meeting me for the first time.

All of this may sound negative and discouraging but I am hopeful that things are changing.  It was definitely noteworthy that in a recent international arbitration in the Middle East in addition to my representing one of the parties, one of the panel members was Black as was one of the expert witnesses.  The Bar, and in particular the Commercial Bar, appears to have woken up to the problem that it has with diversity. There are a number of very encouraging initiatives which are being pursued to increase the number of Black practitioners at the Commercial Bar. It remains a tough and competitive process but, if you have the skills, the fact that you are Black or any other ethnic minority should not stop you trying.