News
Statement by chair of working party on impact of SRA decisions on BME solicitors
13 March 2008
Statement by Anesta Weekes QC, independent chair of a working party established by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to examine disproportionate representation of black and minority ethnic solicitors in regulatory decisions
The SRA in 2006 carried out an impact assessment of its functions, policy and practices, and found that "[a]n examination of the available data highlighted a trend indicating that BME solicitors were disproportionately represented in regulatory decisions compared to their representation within the profession."
This finding is of great concern to all BME solicitors, the profession as a whole and the SRA. It is also of interest to the wider public who rely from time to time upon the services of BME solicitors in important private and publicly funded areas of work.
The SRA is rightly concerned to ensure that its regulatory process and decision making is not discriminatory in relation to race and ethnicity.
The working party I chair will work closely alongside Lord Herman Ouseley (past chair of the Commission for Racial Equality), the independent reviewer, to find reasons for the outcome of the SRA's impact assessment.
Recommendations for change, whatever those reasons may be for this state of affairs, will be crucial to the future work of the SRA.
We must await the findings of Lord Ouseley's review before making any comment. Speculation at this stage would be unhelpful.
Anesta Weekes QC