Featured in this report:
While annual statistics had shown increases in the overall proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic solicitors in the profession in the past ten years, conversations with members of their ethnic minority lawyers division suggesting that many were not seeing progress in their own workplaces or areas of practice.
In commissioning the research, The Law Society set out to explore the data on representation in greater detail and to assess the progress towards a more inclusive profession through focus groups and in-depth interviews with Black, Asian and minority ethnic solicitors – those working in HR and recruitment, and thought leaders.
The evidence clearly shows that more needs to be done to improve race inclusion in the legal profession, as, despite firms’ actions, little appears to be changing in terms of Black, Asian and minority ethnic solicitors’ experiences.
Highlighted through statistics and personal stories, this report explores the hurdles faced at different career stages and the talent that is not being fully utilised or is being completely lost to the profession as a result. Many law firms are doing a lot of work in the field of diversity, but change is coming too slowly or not at all in many areas and more needs to be done.
