David Lammy, speaking to the Black Solicitors’ Network in 2004, said: “It is evident throughout the professions. Ethnic minority students are winning places in top law firms only to be channelled into less commercial areas of law. They work hard to qualify. They work hard to get training contracts. Just like all law students do. Only to find themselves caught in the centre of a corporate maze, where all the exit routes are career dead ends. They have neither the contacts nor the networks that other lawyers have. Groups like the Black Solicitors’ Network are helping to change that. And they have an important role to play.”
The Annual Statistic Report of 1990-2004 shows that during this period the number of ethnic minority solicitors has increased from 1,000 to around 6,000. In just 14 years we have come a long way. People in general are more accepting of different ethnic backgrounds. Even though there has been a significant improvement, it is important to examine whether these improvements have penetrated deep enough to impact on a substantial cross section of the UK’s ethnic minorities.
What appears on first glance is quite a positive picture. Eight point one percent of the United Kingdom’s lawyer population is from the country’s ethnic minorities. Statistics from the Law Society’s paper (Trends in the solicitors’ profession 2004) show that around 22% of London’s ethnic minority lawyers have practising certificates. Even though this is a healthy representation of ethnic minorities, at micro levels of different practice areas and in the judiciary, quite a different picture emerges.
There still exist barriers to certain sectors of law. High standing judicial positions and the more lucrative areas of law are still showing a distinct imbalance in ethnic minority representation.Courtenay Griffiths QC, a leading London defence barrister and the joint head of Garden Court Chambers, while delighted with the recent advances, concurs with this analysis.
The increase in recruitment of ethnic minorities in law firms “should be applauded”. However, the majority of recruitees from these backgrounds work in a limited sector of the law, that is to say the Public Funded Sector. It seems that the “more lucrative” areas of law, “for example libel, litigation, commerce” are seen as “out of bounds”.
Answering what he thought about the situation in large City law firms Griffiths said that there has been a notable shift. Organisations such as Pepsi Cola have their own legal sector, which has diverse recruitment and more and more people being admitted who come from ethnic and black backgrounds. As a result there is an economic push/pressure for large City firms to recruit on a more diverse basis. Therefore it is economic pressure instead of altruism which has motivated this push towards a diverse legal sector through recruitment.
In relation to the effectiveness of recent changes in the judicial recruitment process, Griffiths thinks there is still only a narrow pool of ethnic minority people to draw from in this area. And the barrier to certain sections of law applies also to more senior positions. Lawyers from these backgrounds who manage to penetrate the barriers mainly come from “Oxbridge” and fit the “bias” attached to these positions.
One possibility is because people from minority backgrounds “do not see the judiciary as a positive career move”. If more “awareness” and encouragement is given “the pool will widen”, but the effects of this will “not be felt for at least another five years”. However, this is a “process of evolution” and there is hope for the future.
According to Griffiths one of the main stereotypes is the perceived status of certain universities. Most firms will like to associate themselves with the universities that will provide the best and most reliable recruitees. The main universities who have such a reputation include “Oxbridge, the LSE, UCL, King’s College, and Warwick”. The universities who are newer or not in the London University League are, of course, at a disadvantage since these do not have the reputation of the others.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) statistically confirmed this in their paper, entitled, A Firm Choice: Law Firms’ Preferences in the Recruitment of Trainee Solicitors. Their research on recruitment procedures found that law firms evidently distinguish between “new” and “old” (or more prestigious) universities. Thirteen point five percent of “old” university students are from ethnic minorities and 29% are from “new” ones, providing us with one of the possible reasons for under-representation in the legal sector.
In response to a push for more diverse representation and fairer recruitment methods, law firms have taken action. Most firms now include a section within their application forms specifically for monitoring what backgrounds applicants are coming from, as well as their gender. It may sound more like discrimination, but in reality it is as a result of the need to recruit on a more diverse basis and is a good way of monitoring intake.
The NIESR in its paper highlights that most firms “were using or developing systematic and fair means of selection, thereby considerably reducing the possibility of direct discrimination in the recruitment of trainees”. Furthermore, firms participating in the research had said they had a trend of recruiting paralegal staff as trainees and “these were less likely than trainees entering by the standard route to be white and middle class”.
Another measure that will certainly open up barriers will be the new LPC which is being provided by BPP’s London Law School. The concerns about the quality of training provided by the previous training course led to the development of a standard LPC in 2001. The new course will be further upgraded and more effective, and five law firms; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Norton Rose, Herbert Smith, Lovells, and Slaughter and May will together exclusively be trying this course which is to be implemented in September this year. The new course will be a unified one studied by all potential recruitees to these firms. This cohesion will enable all students to gain the essential legal training they need regardless of their background.
In a media brief released mid last year the consortium of five asserted that the new course will be more interactive, giving students “greater insight into the law and the business context. It will also teach better awareness of clients’ needs.” The consortium aims to provide “future trainees with the best possible preparation for the start of their careers.”
Louise Stoker, head of training for Slaughter and May said in relation to the course, “If our future trainees are well grounded in the fundamentals, they will very rapidly adjust to the way in which we operate as firms and they will be able to make a substantive contribution from the outset.”
The consortium commented on the benefits that the new course will provide recruitees.
There will be more emphasis on developing communication skills as well as better allowance for different learning methods.
Students will be based in London, thus in close contact with the consortium’s firms.
Herbert Smith’s Corporate Partner, Carol Shutkever said: “It will increase their legal skills [that is to say, the students] and give them a greater insight into their career opportunities.”
The College of Law, excluded from this process, is working with three law firms; Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Clifford Chance, to give them three separate bespoke courses Nigel Savage, Chief Executive of the College said: “Students will get to know the firm and its precedents from the outset instead of later on after the traineeship has begun.”
Richard deFriend, Director of the College of Law also commented: “Since the profession in general and traineeships have become more specialised, the new LPC and bespoke courses aim to adapt to help students meet new demands.”
“The main difference between each of the routes reaching traineeship between the bespoke courses and the LPC is the context in which the course will be studied. There is no difference in the type of law studied. The outcomes are requirements of the Law Society and the profession, and, therefore, any LPC type of course must meet those outcomes.”
How then can we relate these new courses to ethnic minorities and their needs? The trend is for people from these backgrounds to work in the Public Funded sector. Therefore having a pathway which is specifically designed for this area of work may well encourage these students to participate in such courses. In doing so they may get the chance to interact with people aiming to work in the more lucrative sectors of law. In turn they will gain more confidence, awareness and thus initiative to penetrate into these legal sectors.
It is evident from this discussion that although diversity in the law arena has evolved beneficially there still exist discrepancies in certain sectors of law. However, initiatives and encouragement by law firms and organisations such as the College of Law and the Black Solicitors’ Network have shown that there is hope for future change.
FURTHER INFO>>>
Black Solicitors’ Network
www.blacksolicitorsnetwork.co.uk
BPP Law School
www.bpp.com
College of Law
www.college-of-law.co.uk
Garden Court Chambers
www.2gardenct.law.co.uk
Law Society
www.lawsociety.org.uk
Allen & Overy
www.allenovery.com
Clifford Chance
www.cliffordchance.com
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
www.freshfields.com
Herbert Smith
www.herbertsmith.com
Linklaters
www.linklaters.com
Lovells
www.lovells.com
Norton Rose
www.nortonrose.com
Slaughter and May
www.slaughterandmay.com
