SRA publishes report into regulatory actions against BME
solicitors
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has
published a report into the number of regulatory actions taken
against black and minority ethnic (BME) solicitors.
The research, conducted by business
psychologists Pearn Kandola, found that BME solicitors have a
disproportionate number of cases raised against them by sources
external to the SRA. The report suggests a number of reasons for
this, firstly, there was no disproportionality identified when
looking at everyone on the solicitors roll, however when looking at
solicitors in the last 10 years, BME solicitors received a
disproportionate number of claims against them. The reason cited
for this is that in general, solicitors who had only been
practising for a short time were likely to receive claims made
against them, and as numbers of BME solicitors entering the
profession has risen over the last 10 years, they would appear
statistically to be disproportionately affected.
It was pointed out that although a direct link
cannot be made between the ethnicity of a solicitor and a
regulatory claim being made against them, there are factors that
indirectly result in BME solicitors having a claim raised against
them, for example, it has been found that solicitors working in
small firms or BME owned firms are more likely to have a claim made
against them and BME solicitors are over represented in both of
these types of firms.
The report also found that solicitors that
qualified in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and The Bar of
England and Wales had a disproportionate number of claims made
against them, compared to solicitors who qualified in New York,
America (other) and Europe for example.
The report ended with recommendations that the
SRA conduct a review of support available to solicitors in training
and career starters. It was also recommended that the SRA introduce
a new method of collecting data in order to make the identification
of disproportionality easier. In addition to this it was
recommended that the SRA conduct a review of some of its decision
making processes. It was noted that regulators are failing to
monitor issues of disproportionality and that there is a need for
collecting quality data to enable this to change.
The full report can be accessed here.
Posted 20.07.10