UK Law Articles
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The Times
March 16 1999
Is the legal profession riddled with racism?
Ethnic minority figures reveal the scale of the problem, says Frances Gibb
The Lawrence inquiry has thrust racism to the top of the political agenda. It has forced the whole criminal justice system into self-scrutiny. On Saturday it will be the legal profession's turn to engage in the debate when the Minority Lawyers Conference considers whether "institutional racism" exists in the profession and justice system.
Many lawyers believe that the figures say it all. Ethnic minority lawyers make up 8.5 per cent of the private practice Bar and 5 per cent of practising solicitors. But the mix is changing and large numbers are joining the profession: in 1988, they made up 20 per cent of the 7,900 students enrolling with the Law Society and 16 per cent of trainees registering with law firms (double the proportion of ethnic minorities in the population). They also account for 16 per cent of barristers starting pupillage and 12 per cent gaining tenancies.
But higher up, minorities are poorly represented. There are no black High Court judges and only four (of 562) circuit judges. Numbers are rising, slowly, in the junior ranks: 3.4 per cent of assistant recorders, 3 per cent of full and part-time tribunal chairmen.
This is partly because there is still only a small pool of eligible candidates. But as Lord Irvine of Lairg, the Lord Chancellor, points out, an "unwelcome trend has emerged". The proportion of applicants chosen to be Queen's Counsel from the ethnic minorities has dropped year on year: of 420 applicants in 1992, 14 (3.3 per cent) were non-white. By 1997, the figure had dropped to 2.4 per cent, although last year it rose again, to 3.5 per cent.
There is recognition of the problem: the conference is a mainstream event, organised by the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Bar and Law Society, in consultation with the main ethnic lawyer groups.Lord Irvine, who will give the keynote speech, has urged ethnic minorities to go for judicial posts: "Don't be shy, apply".
What, then, do they think?
Maria Fernandes, 39, an immigration solicitor and Law Society ethnic minorities council member, says: "Ethnic minority solicitors will be adversely affected by the Government's reforms. Under legal aid contracts, small firms will be heavily reduced and this will hit ethnic minority lawyers, who are concentrated in such firms.
"Such lawyers face problems from the start; they go to schools and universities not considered as good as others, then obtain less-good training contracts and a 'ripple effect' sets in. There is no doubt that we have institutional racism at the Law Society and in law firms. We have to tackle it by looking at procedures, training contracts and so on. People are still worried about what clients will think."
When at a City law firm, she was taken by a senior partner to be introduced to a client. "He wanted to reassure the client," she recalls. "There is a fear there, but it is not as obvious as pointing to something and saying that was racism, sexism, or maybe they did not like your face. Many people equate equal opportunities with tackling racism. The profession likes to think the problem does not exist."
Anuja Dhir, 31, a barrister at 5 Paper Buildings, says: "There is institutional racism throughout the legal profession and in the way justice is administered. Discrimination occurs in three ways: first, ethnic minority lawyers are not what people perceive to be the right colour, and perhaps also the right sex, for a barrister, and that perception is held by other lawyers, judges and lay clients. Secondly, they are perceived not to have been to the 'right' schools or universities. Thirdly, they don't have the same social skills to integrate.
"I was lucky, but others get forced into ghetto chambers and don't get the opportunities and can never recover from that. People can't apply for posts if they haven't had the right experience."
Raju Bhatt, 42, a solicitor with his own four-partner firm, Bhatt Murphy, says: "The criminal justice system is permeated with racism at every level and black people are treated differently - from the way complaints are handled to sentences. Black lawyers all have experiences. I have been treated at court as if I am the consumer of the system, rather than the supplier. I came into law late and was lucky to get a training contract at Birnbergs, where I was given space to develop my practice (complaints against the police, prisons, deaths in custody, prisoners' rights). That is so important. But my experience is very untypical. Many black lawyers have to battle to get those footholds."
Lincoln Crawford, 50, a barrister and chairman of the Bar race relations committee, says: "Things are not as bad as when I started in 1976, when it was almost impossible to get into chambers. I was pulled in by Sir Peter Rawlinson because he was determined to do something. But he was a lone voice. I still find problems getting work. It's all been through my contacts.
"The reason the Lord Chancellor can't get enough ethnic minorities into judicial posts is because of our failings at the Bar and among solicitors who don't brief black barristers.
"We have to show we are making a difference: we can't go out as lawyers and defend people in this era of change while we at the Bar are hiding behind our equal opportunities and equality codes."
