The SQE is not living up to its promise on diversity

On 24 January, Lady Arden stepped down from the Supreme Court. Once again, we are in a situation where we only have one woman sitting on the highest court in the land and not a single Supreme Court judge who is Black, Asian or from another ethnic minority background.

The top of private practice firms is still dominated by white, privately educated men and there are no Black general counsel in the FTSE 100.

We are crying out for more diversity in the profession and the new Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) was heralded as a game changer in making the profession more inclusive. Yet, as the first exam results are revealed, it becomes clear the SQE has some way to go. There was a large discrepancy between white candidates, 65% of whom passed, and those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, where the pass rate was only 44%.

A route to diversity

By giving an alternative route to qualifying as a solicitor, diversity was supposed to be improved by the SQE. Getting a training contract was a high bar and those from more privileged backgrounds found them easier to secure.

The truth is however, that to sit the SQE, and to pass, you are looking at a large financial outlay. You need to pay for books, for courses, for tutoring and you need to be able to afford time off for study.

Without the means to pay for all this, many will struggle to get through. That will disproportionately impact those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who are more likely to lack the financial resources that benefit their white counterparts.

The SQE, it was hoped, would provide paralegals who might not have the right contacts or family support, the means to qualify. For those working for large firms, with significant resources and infrastructure, that might work, but for smaller employers it’s a different story. Realistically you are looking at £15K per employee to put them through the exams and the course. This simply isn’t affordable for many SME firms which means paralegals will get no help and can only make it if they self-fund.

Many won’t be paid the kind of wages required to do that and won’t be able to take the time off needed to study and sit courses while also working. Timescales are short, unlike more flexible options such as CILEX where students can stop and start, taking longer if needed. This puts further barriers in the way for those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

Future leaders

We need role models at the top of the profession to inspire the next generation and change law firm culture. Failure to deliver diversity at entry level will have an impact on leadership at the top of the profession further down the line. In the next 10, 15 years we will find we are no better off.

Our experience of progress for women in the legal sector has shown how glacial the pace of change can be. We might have succeeded in getting more women into the profession – there are now more entering than men – but that is 100 years after they were first permitted to qualify and they are still underrepresented in partnerships, management and in the judiciary. Let’s not make the same mistakes on racial and socio-economic diversity.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority acknowledge the troubling difference in performance for candidates from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and have appointed Exeter University to carry out in-depth research to better understand the factors driving the attainment gap. They pledge to do everything they can to address the issues so we must hope that they succeed in eliminating some of the barriers I describe.

The SQE is giving false hope to many who have not been able to secure a training contract. It creates a dream but does not live up to it. If we want a more representative profession, we need to make it more accessible and affordable to qualify into. Inclusion efforts must be constant, taking long term goals into account. Otherwise in 30 years’ time we will still have a Supreme Court dominated by white men.

Dana Denis-Smith is founder of the Next 100 Years project and CEO of Obelisk Support