Whose job is it to make sure that the legal profession is not institutionally racist or sexist? It is an awkward question, but one that needs to be addressed urgently.

There are, undeniably, serious issues to be tackled, not least because the majority of new entrants to the profession are women and/or from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. To net the best talent firms will need to embrace diversity – something that is not exactly news to most practitioners.

Yet, the Law Society’s salary survey published in May revealed black and minority ethnic solicitors earned 17% less on average than white solicitors. Women solicitors earned on average 32% less than male solicitors. This dropped to 7.6% after relevant variables were taken into account.

Worse, last year’s Diversity League Tables published by the Black Solicitors Network (BSN) revealed that some 20% of the top 100 law firms do not have any BME partners.

Stuart Popham at Clifford Chance is quite right to dismiss headline-grabbing initiatives that may not properly promote equality – and even damage BME candidates’ chances – but firms must take responsibility for diversity.

No one would claim that the underlying reasons for differentials in pay, recruitment, promotion and retention are anything but varied and complex.

That said, setting diversity targets as called for by Michael Webster, chair of the BSN, and conducting transparent salary reviews seem commonsense solutions to measuring your own equality track record.