The battle to improve the standing of black and minority ethnic lawyers has moved into the corridors of power, discovers Anita Rice


‘Only around 10-15% of immigrant candidates for the final bar exam used to pass. When we eventually persuaded the Bar Council to replace candidates’ names with roll numbers, the pass rate went up to around 30%,’ recalls barrister Anis Rahman of the battle to open up both branches of the legal profession to ethnic minorities back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ‘We knew something was wrong when an Irish woman who was a straight-A student failed. Having just wed a Pakistani national, she sat the final exam using her foreign-sounding married name.’



Mr Rahman was a student activist with legendary campaigner and barrister Rudy Narayan during the late 1960s. Mr Narayan co-founded the Society of Black Lawyers (SBL) – then known as the Afro-Asian and Caribbean Lawyers Association – in 1969, with fellow barrister Sibghat Kadri QC.



The founders of the SBL fought to get the Bar Council and others – who insisted at the time that they were ‘colour-blind’ – to accept there was a problem at all. Fellow barrister Sailesh Mehta, chairman of the Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL), believes the issues facing today’s black and minority ethnic (BME) lawyers have moved on to different ground.



‘The battles Rudy and Sibghat fought in those days were very different from now. Then it was about getting people to accept there was a battle and to put diversity at the heart of recruitment. When I started out 21 years ago, that battle was at entry-to-the-profession stage. There are still problems there but it is now about getting partnerships, for example, and why there needs to be fairer representation at more senior levels,’ he says.



Most agree that there has been a significant change in the way the profession deals with diversity and that the vast majority of firms accept that diversity is not only desirable, but good for business too. ‘The Law Society and the Bar Council are more willing to listen to constructive criticism and support projects to encourage good practice and fairness towards BME practitioners,’ says Mr Mehta, before adding: ‘There is much more to be done.’



According to Law Society statistics, the number of BME solicitors has almost tripled in the last ten years to 8% of the total figure (11% at the bar). Some 20% of new admissions are from BME communities – twice the representation of BME communities in the population of England and Wales.



However, interpreting statistics is notoriously difficult. While the result looks positive, other figures indicate that while 25% of legal practice course students are from a BME background, only 18% of training contracts are offered to BME students. Statistics are not available to provide a meaningful comparison with their white counterparts, something the Law Society’s director of equality and diversity, Manjot Dhanjal, says the Society intends to change, along with identifying the types of traineeships secured by white and BME candidates.



‘This improvement is not reflected at senior levels in the profession, including at partnership level. This is also true of women solicitors. Going forward, the Law Society will want to focus on issues of progression and look at how we can support BME solicitors and law firms to make improvements,’ says Ms Dhanjal, adding: ‘This is not to say that we will not continue to work on entry-level issues to sustain the progress we have made.’



And it is the issue of progression within the profession that is most contentious right now. This year’s Diversity League Tables, which surveys the employee make-up of the top UK law firms by gender and ethnicity and is published by the Black Solicitors Network (BSN), revealed that 20% of participant firms did not have a single BME partner. The situation was even worse for black solicitors, defined within the tables as being of African/Caribbean descent, with more than 80% of respondent firms reporting they had no black partners.



Michael Webster, chairman of the BSN and editor of the tables, says there is a lack of empirical evidence to keep check of representation issues within all levels of the profession. ‘General trends information is provided by the Law Society but not specific figures we can look at – the tables plugged that gap.



‘I want to emphasise the numbers are very much the start and not the end of the line. We don’t believe having numbers produced is a panacea but it gives a framework from which to measure ourselves against others and that is very, very important,’ he says.



SAL is working in partnership with BT and the Law Society to deliver the Diversity Charter – a scheme that would see FTSE-100 companies quizzing law firms on the diversity of teams on a deal-specific basis. The idea is to raise awareness and help more BME lawyers get into senior positions by gaining greater experience of working on big deals.



Mr Mehta says he developed the scheme ‘having spent the best part of 20 years trying to persuade City solicitors that it is in their economic interest to have a diverse work-force. The next step was to speak to those who give them their £1 billion of work a year’.



Both Mr Mehta and Mr Webster warn that clients expect to employ diverse teams and that the most diverse law firms will, in the near future, have the competitive edge.



Mr Webster cuts to the chase: ‘There is a war for talent and the profession will lose out long term if it does not widen the pool it recruits from. Why would talented young people go into an industry if your colour or gender may restrict you when you can enter another sector where you will be equally well paid?’



Fiona Fitzgerald, vice-chairwoman of the Association of Women Solicitors and a partner at Colemans-CTTS in Kingston-Upon-Thames, Surrey, says that despite having more women entering the profession than men, fewer make it to partner level because of retention issues. They are often unwilling – or unable if caring for children or other family members – to work the number of hours expected by firms.



‘An ongoing problem is keeping women in the profession and encouraging employers to allow flexible working and to have an open mind on how women work, the way they work, and the hours they work,’ she says.



Debo Nwauzu is the founding managing director of Black Letter Law (BLL) – a company that publishes an annual directory of BME lawyers and runs training days for BME candidates. She believes there needs to be much earlier intervention to encourage children from diverse backgrounds to choose law as their future profession. ‘Leaving it to university age is simply too late,’ she says.



Under a programme called ‘Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s Lawyers’, BLL has identified secondary schools with very high numbers of BME pupils in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London, and intends to raise awareness of the opportunities available within the legal sector. Alongside providing practical advice and information online, in both text and video format, BLL will send practitioners into the schools to talk to and coach possible entrants to the profession.



‘It is so important for children to have access to information at a level that is relevant to them; 12 to 15-year-olds will have access to information in a number of different ways, and interested 15 to 17-year-olds will get the opportunity to go into law firms and see what it is like for themselves,’ says Ms Nwauzu.



Socio-economic factors behind diversity gaps often go unacknowledged, as fewer organisations appear to collect statistics identifying students’ background in depth. Ms Dhanjal says the Law Society Charity has introduced a number of bursaries with legal practice course providers to help those from less well-off backgrounds get into the profession.



‘The diversity access scheme provides financial assistance for those who had the talent and ability to become solicitors but faced some exceptional obstacles in entering the profession. The definition of diversity used is broad – it, of course, includes the standard diversity strands but also includes other issues such as family support, education and social background,’ she says.



Geoffrey Vos QC, chairman of the Bar Council, believes the bar today ‘doesn’t have a bad record in ethnic minority terms; the percentages are good, but they tend to be ethnic minorities from higher social economic groups and that is not solving the socio-economic problem’.



There are, says Mr Vos, six key barriers to ensuring both branches of the profession genuinely reflect the diverse make-up of UK society. Firstly, he cites a ‘greater ignorance at school about the possibility of people from poorer backgrounds entering the profession’. The bar is regarded as a ‘closed profession’.



Second, representative bodies should reach out to children from poorer backgrounds and boost their exposure to legal professional life before they choose what to study at degree level. The additional cost of a conversion course or changing courses is simply too much for most people from poorer backgrounds.



Third, the bar and solicitors’ profession do not recruit as widely from universities outside the ‘traditional’ top 20. BME students or those from lower socio-economic groups tend to attend local universities, regardless of their academic record, largely because it is often the cheaper option. Mr Vos wants to see people who attend these universities, who are capable of succeeding in the law, actively courted by the profession.



The fourth issue is the cost of the bar vocational course, currently in the region of £12-13,000 plus living expenses (the legal practice course is not far behind). ‘That’s a big barrier to entry for people coming out of university with student loans and they need assurance that they will get a pupillage. Only one in four or five students get pupillage.’



Not only do students leave university with large debts generally, the more risk-averse, poorer students are far less willing to accrue more debt than their middle-class counterparts. After all, who is going to bail them out if it all goes wrong?



The fifth and, according to Mr Vos, perhaps the most important barrier comes in the way people are selected for pupillage. Unlike sizeable law firms, most chambers are too small to have dedicated human resources professionals.



‘Chambers try extremely hard to get it right but the result is that unless you are trained you often unwittingly choose the best candidate who comes from a familiar background. I want to see better training for selectors and better interviewing procedures. The problem is repeated at selection for tenancy and there are further consequences in terms of diversity in the judiciary,’ he says.



The final barrier is retention. Mr Vos reiterates that the profession is not doing enough to retain women – particularly once they start families – and ethnic minority barristers once qualified.



While great progress has been made to date, with more initiatives in the pipeline to boost diversity throughout the profession, there are fears that one major change in the offing threatens to unravel most of what has been achieved.



There are widespread concerns about the implementation of the government’s legal aid reforms – specifically the introduction of fixed fees and other changes which are said to favour large firms. Interested groups, backed by the likes of veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott, say the majority of BME solicitors work within small legal aid firms and so will be hit hardest.



Mr Mehta warns: ‘Some of the current battles are reminiscent of the old battles… We fear that if left unchecked, these proposals will wipe out a large proportion of small BME firms doing legal aid criminal work. As a result, much of the progress on equal treatment will be wiped out within months of the implementation of Carter.’





2006/07 solicitor statistics*

l 34.2% of all partners in all firms are from BME backgrounds

l 45% of all partners are identified as white Europeans

l 9.1% of private practice solicitors are identified as BME

l 20% of all new admissions are from BME backgrounds

l 18% of training contracts awarded to BME applicants

l 10.1% of people on the roll are from a BME background

l 9.5% of people holding practising certificates are from BME backgrounds

Source: Law Society’s Statistical Research Unit
* Figures apply to England and Wales only





2006/07 solicitor statistics*

l 34.2% of all partners in all firms are from BME backgrounds

l 45% of all partners are identified as white Europeans

l 9.1% of private practice solicitors are identified as BME

l 20% of all new admissions are from BME backgrounds

l 18% of training contracts awarded to BME applicants

l 10.1% of people on the roll are from a BME background

l 9.5% of people holding practising certificates are from BME backgrounds

Source: Law Society’s Statistical Research Unit
* Figures apply to England and Wales only





CASE STUDY

Sarah Ocran, 40, is a single mother of three and works full-time as a clerical manager in the NHS. She is also studying part-time for her law conversion course at the BPP law school in Holborn, London. She wants to qualify as a barrister and is currently applying for scholarships to fund her through the bar vocational course.



‘I am applying for a “mini-pupillage” right now, which I think is important to do. Funding is the main problem – I have already taken out a career development loan of £7,000 and the next step costs £10,500. I have applied to the Inn for a scholarship and know the BPP law school also offers scholarships. If all else fails, I will have to go to the bank again.



‘Another problem comes when applying for training contracts and pupillages. I have read it takes BME students four years longer to secure them than their white counterparts. From my own community – I am from Ghana – some people might not have trained here and so are holding degrees from other countries. Talking to friends who have qualified, I think for black students here there may be an issue of race. Even though organisations like the Society of Black Lawyers are fighting those issues, I still think there might be a race issue.’





CASE STUDY

Sairah Naveed, 22, has just started her training contract with national firm Pinsent Masons after studying for a mixed law and business degree, followed by a law conversion course at Birmingham University. She completed her legal practice course at the College of Law in Birmingham, while also studying part-time for her PhD in theology and politics.



Ms Naveed took on paid work for Eversheds in Birmingham for three years from the age of 19, working part-time during term and full-time during holidays. She is also an executive committee member of the Association of Muslim Lawyers (AML).



‘I wear a headscarf and you don’t find many female Muslims who wear headscarves in any law firm. Being one of the first to cross that boundary and do that – I didn’t know how people were going to react to that, as well as needing to pray. My experience here has been very positive

so far.



‘I chose Pinsent Masons because they were diverse – I chose the firm where I thought I could fit in. If you want to get into a corporate law firm you have to be quite determined… but I would say go for it... someone has to be the first and every single law firm is going for diversity.



‘I think there is a duty to reach back. I started doing that through the Law Society, AML… it is difficult with no role models. We visit schools and legal practice course/ university age students. I don’t think I am disadvantaged but you do have to work harder if you are female or from a BME background. However, clients are now asking for diversity.’





CASE STUDY

Michael (does not want to use his full name), 23, was born in Nigeria but came to the UK when he was two years old. He is currently studying for an access course to get into a good university to study law. He wants to work as a solicitor but also qualify to appear in higher courts as an advocate.



‘I didn’t get great grades at A-level. I financed myself through an independent school but struggled because of working for money to support myself. The main problem is getting good contacts and information – getting to talk to the right people.



‘The information for black people is not great; you don’t always know what you have to do to progress. It was only when I went to an independent school that my eyes were opened. Ignorance prevents many black applicants because school doesn’t prepare them for what they have to do to get into a City firm. Since then I have had to do a lot of research – everybody has to – but it really matters at school.



‘Black applicants are put off because people say you can’t do this and there are not enough black faces around. I would say previously the acceptance of black lawyers was not too good but they have made their mark now. The challenge for my generation will be gaining higher positions within the legal profession and setting up black firms within the City dealing with the big contracts.’





CASE STUDY

Michelle Egbosimba, 26, is about to take up a training contract with City firm Ashurst. Born in the US, she moved to Holland at nine years old, where she studied to degree level before working for the UN. She then took a law conversion course, and completed her legal practice course in London this year. She has just co-authored a paper with Peter Herbert, barrister, part-time judge and chairman of the Society of Black Lawyers (SBL), on gang culture and access to justice for UK BME youths.



‘The main obstacle for young people from BME backgrounds trying to get into the profession is that they don’t have enough understanding of what the profession is about. Some think that once they get into law school, they have it made but then realise there’s a whole lot more you have to do. I believe the education system here doesn’t prepare students for what you have to do to make it in City firms.



‘Lawyers in the US are very much a part of their communities – it’s very different here. Writing the paper [on gang culture] has allowed access to part of the profession that I wanted to get involved in. It is, for me, a duty to reach back and I would encourage people to give back to their neighbourhoods. You don’t need to tell anyone but do something.



‘We need to reach people in education around age 12, primary schools even. Leaving it to university age is too late. The SBL is starting with education and will be going into schools and talking about courses to prepare them for what they need to do.’