A diverse profession

David McIntosh sets out his vision of a Law Society culture committed to equal opportunities and a diverse profession

A major theme of my term as president has been to celebrate the diversity of the solicitors' profession in every sense.

It is good to see that the profession in England and Wales is beginning to reflect the composition of the society it serves.

It is also gratifying to celebrate the vast range of activity by solicitors in all the different modes of practice and types of work they do, from publicly funded work to advising in mergers and acquisitions by global companies.

One of the key objectives adopted by the Law Society Council in December 2001, as part of the Society's three-year corporate plan, is to 'reinforce the Law Society's role as a promoter of equal opportunities and diversity within the profession'.

Consequently, a sub-group of the main board was delegated the responsibility of developing a strategy for the promotion of equality and diversity.

However, we recognised that good intentions were not enough.

It is only through the successful implementation of the framework that we can hope to make a real difference by ensuring that we do our best for everyone within the profession, regardless of their background.

With this in mind, the framework clearly defines the necessary action and governance required to achieve our aims.

Responsibility for the promotion of equality of opportunity will be shared across the organisation, by both council members and managers and steps are being taken to ensure that all the Society's policy and practice are influenced accordingly.

A dedicated director of equality and diversity in the regulation directorate will undertake a wide range of work in helping us to review all our activities relating to legal education and training, rules and ethics, compliance, complaints-handling and discipline.

This will ensure that our systems and processes do not operate unfairly against any particular group in the profession or the public.

For example, on complaints-handling we want to be sure that the quality and nature of decision-making is the same regardless of the background of the complainant or the solicitor who is the subject of the complaint.

We are revising the anti-discrimination rule in the Solicitors' Guide to Professional Conduct.

We will be looking both at ways of enforcing the rule more effectively and ways in which to encourage firms to understand the value of incorporating equality and diversity within their policies.

In terms of its role as an employer, the Society wants to be seen as a leading exponent of best practice.

The recently appointed equality and diversity manager in human resources will help to achieve this aim.

We have already undertaken a review of all equality and diversity-related data on staff, together with a review of recruitment practice.

Council members and staff are undertaking equality and diversity training.

We aim to lead by example, and to provide practical advice, to law firms of how best to address diversity and equality in their workplaces.

We are also looking at diversity in the sense of ensuring that the Society considers the needs of everyone in the profession no matter what their mode of practice or area of work.

Therefore, another one of the objectives in the corporate plan is to ensure all our operations address the diversity of solicitors' practice and employment.

We are about to appoint an equality and diversity policy adviser to help us address issues of equality and diversity for law reform and access to justice.

When we address issues of law reform we wish to be sure that we fully consider the implications of any proposal for equal treatment and fairness to every sector of the community that the profession serves.

We have already adopted the practice of ensuring that all work on formulating policy includes a consideration of the equality and diversity implications of their contents.

As part of the Society's strategy to reduce obstacles to entry to the profession we are developing a diversity access scheme.

An integral part of the scheme will be a diversity access fund to support and encourage talented individuals, who may not have otherwise done so, to consider a career in the law.

We hope to have it running by 2003.

The diversity access scheme is not just about money, and nor is it limited to those who have yet to enter the profession.

We are hoping to provide additional support to those who have already made it through the qualification and admission processes but who continue to face unfair hurdles in the workplace in terms of barriers to progression, or access to opportunities to practise in whichever sector or specialism in the profession that they wish.

I hope I have made it clear that the Society is determined to implement this ambitious programme to make our equality and diversity vision statement a reality.

We hope everyone in the profession will work with us to address these important aims.

David McIntosh is the Law Society President