Firms and chambers told to improve gender/BAME diversity more quickly or face quotas

Law firms and barristers’ chambers need to improve the diversity of their workforces or face having quotas imposed on them, the Black Solicitors Network (BSN) has said.

The BSN’s annual diversity league table report found that gender and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) diversity is now "relatively high" at the junior end of the legal profession, but this progress is not reflected in the makeup of more senior levels. As Legal Futures reports, women make up 62% of trainee solicitors and 44% of pupil barristers, but only 27% of law firm partners and 12% of QCs are women. Meanwhile, 23% of trainee solicitors and around 20% of pupil barristers are from a BAME background, compared to just 8% of partners and some 5% of QCs.

The report questioned whether the economic incentives of retaining the large numbers of women and BAME lawyers who leave the profession in order to make the most of the investments that firms and chambers have made in them are doing enough to improve diversity across the profession. Women are well represented at trainee and associate level, but still face an unacceptable barrier when it comes to taking the step up to partner. Meanwhile, large numbers of BAME lawyers leave the profession at all levels – with a marked drop off even in the transition from trainee to associate.

The BSN’s report concluded: "Key here is the word 'significant'. The economic drivers we have identified in the diversity league table have been working for a number of years now and progress continues to be painfully slow (that is, insignificant). It would seem that, at present, the economic drivers are not doing their job. While the economic fundamentals are working in the right direction, the present pace of change seems unacceptable. Firms and chambers need to act now, as there is an increasing willingness to consider the ‘nuclear’ option of quotas."