News releases
Solicitors' regulator rejects accusations of racism
16 October 2007
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) strongly denies allegations that it is racist and discriminates against black and Asian lawyers.
SRA Chief Executive Antony Townsend said: "We simply do not target solicitors or firms on the basis of race. Our job is to protect the public and we apply our policies fairly and consistently."
"One MP has claimed that 63 per cent of the solicitors' firms closed by us in 2006 were non-white. This is misleading. The real facts are that the practices of two Asian and nine black solicitors were closed down, compared with 22 white/European solicitors and 26 solicitors whose race is not known. In all these cases, there was evidence of serious risk to the public."
"I would be delighted to meet Jack Straw, the secretary of state for Justice, and representatives of minority ethnic lawyers to put right any misconceptions about the statistics. We are keen to explain the measures we are adopting to ensure the fairness of our procedures. These are important and complex issues which will only be resolved if we work together."
Notes to editors
An initial analysis of why black and ethic minority solicitors are disproportionately represented in our regulatory work was published in 2006: