STEPHEN WARD ASKS IMRAN KHAN WHAT LESSONS HE CAN PASS ON TO SOLICITORS WHO ARE BRINGING ACTIONS AGAINST THE POLICE'You shouldn't baulk at taking action against the police if you have to,' Imran Khan, solicitor for Stephen Lawrence's family, concludes after five years, a private prosecution and a public inquiry.

Despite the pressures to do otherwise, he urges: 'You've got to maintain a vigorous defence of your client.

There is really no point in joining the legal profession otherwise.'In Mr Khan's view, the Lawrence case -- which began when the black teenager was stabbed to death at a bus stop by a gang of white youths -- has brought out not only institutional racism which has been the central focus of the inquiry but has also highlighted the dismissive way many police view enthusiastic defence solicitors.

He says: 'Our attitude is that they prosecute, we defend, that is part of pluralism.

I'd want their attitude to be the same.' But if solicitors at junior level try that much harder for a client and argue particularly vigorously, they may be seen by the police as being somehow 'corrupt'.'I've had that said about me on more than one occasion by police officers, not directly to me but to others who've passed it on to me,' says Mr Khan, one of four partners in the London high street firm JR Jones.

'In a sense they feel that because you're defending a client or clients so vociferously, you're corrupt.

You're criminal.

You're not considered to be part of the ordinary circle that you have dinner with.'Mr Khan, who trained at the London firm BM Birnberg and Co, joined JR Jones on qualifying to set up a criminal practice there.

The firm had already begun to establish a niche in challenging convictions before the Lawrence killing, particularly where race was an element of the case.

Other firms have been in the field longer -- Bindman & Partners, Christian Fisher, and Birnbergs, where Gareth Peirce represented the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six.

Another niche firm in north London is Taylor Nichol, where Jim Nichol led the successful appeal of the men convicted of killing the Staffordshire newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater.The Lawrence case, Mr Khan maintains, has demonstrated again the need for lawyers -- when confronting those who traditionally uphold justice -- to be unconventional, to think laterally, and to explore little-known avenues of the law.He says: 'Not only do we have to work harder in preparing the cases to get the results, we have to know the law and be creative.

That is what we've tried to do during the last ten years -- to find those areas which are under-developed.'The innovation in the Lawrence case was the private prosecution.

'I'm trying to rack my brains as to how the idea came about,' says Mr Khan.

'Why did we ever embark on it in 1993, when the concept of it was alien to all of us? I suppose it was the lack of fear.

We thought there's got to be an avenue.'The Lawrence case has also taught him, the Lawrence family and its supporters not to see the police as all the same.

'We have met officers during the Lawrence inquiry operating with integrity, and if all officers were able to operate that way and give lawyers the respect in return for the work they're doing it would be much better,' says Mr Khan.Mr Khan says the attitude of solicitors representing the police is far from uniform.

'I think it depends on the person,' he says.

'There are those in the police and legal system that have said, "we respect what you do and good on you," there are tho se who are much more personal -- you get into difficulties when you get a frosty high minded person looking down their nose at you -- as if I have somehow caused the difficulties to the Metropolitan Police.

It's not about that.

I would not want to brand all with the same brush.

There are clearly officers who find it difficult to understand the concept that we are all part of a system trying to achieve justice.'Mr Khan is aware of the traditional pressures on a solicitor to fit in with the norms of the police station.

He says: 'There was a clique and a club in every locality whereby it appeared there was a sense of lawyers and police officers all being part of the same bunch.

There was a negative stereotype particularly about Asian lawyers, and I remember hearing about cases which highlighted the way judges and the police would deal with Asian lawyers (see below).

Some say about Asian lawyers: "They've got their degree from some foreign country, they don't know the law, they're not up to it." Some say: "They can't speak the language, they'll be laughed at in court because they're stumbling with words or whatever".'The Lawrence case has made that relationship more complex.

When Mr Khan's role was bringing a private prosecution many police welcomed his involvement.

They were frustrated that the Crown Prosecution Service (see below) had declined to bring the case to court.

At that stage, Mr Kahn says, he would be welcomed into police stations.'When I started doing this in 1993, some police officers would shake my hand, and I felt slightly uncomfortable,' he adds.

His clients would see the way the police greeted him and suspect that his relationship with them had actually become too cosy.Usually the problem is the opposite, but Mr Khan would still advise solicitors -- who may be wary of jeopardising their careers by confronting the police -- that they should not worry.

He does not do any duty solicitor work -- the business that has come his way has all been by word-of-mouth referrals.He recalls: 'When I first joined this firm and said I wanted to do certain types of work, the partners said: 'As long as you bring in the money, you can do what you want.' Thankfully it is this work which has proved to be the most profitable.'RACHEL HALLIBURTON ASKS SOLICITORS FROM ETHNIC MINORITIES HOW THEY ARE TREATED BY POLICE WHEN THEY SIT ON DUTY SOLICITOR ROTASEver since the Stephen Lawrence enquiry raised the issue of whether there was institutional racism within the police force, a number of important questions have emerged about how attitudes can be changed.

As the spotlight turns on the way in which police deal with ethnic minorities on a day-to-day basis, one of the key issues for solicitors is how institutional racism affects black lawyers.Of the 6,000 duty solicitors who come into regular contact with the police, less than 2% come from ethnic minorities.

Peter Herbert, chairman of the Society for Black Lawyers, says: 'The way in which black solicitors are treated is a mirror of the treatment generally dealt out to ethnic minorities.

Often when a black duty solicitor visits a client at the police station, they are mistaken for being the boyfriend, girlfriend or relative.' Mr Herbert goes on to explain that even once the black solicitor's status is accepted, problems still occur.

He says: 'I was on an anti-terrorist case, and had to visit Strangeways prison several times.

I was accompanied by the barrister, who was white.

The silk was never asked for his ID, but they stopped me every time.'Peter Bonner has been a duty solicitor for eight years, and is sole practitioner in the Lewisham, south east London firm Peter Bonner & Co.

He says: 'I think it is fair to say that there is rarely any overt comment from the police.

One thing did happen to me, however.

I was with a mentally ill patient and I did not have my suit on at the time.

The police automatically started to caution me, rather than my client.'The problem, Mr Herbert explains, is that while the police or the prison services often cannot express overt prejudice, there are subliminal ways of indicating their attitudes.

Not only can this end up destroying the confidence of young black solicitors, but it can also have the knock-on effect of white clients worrying that having a black solicitor is not effective enough.Other stories which Mr Herbert tells back this up.

What kind of message does it give, for example, when several black paralegals are stopped from going into prisons because, according to Mr Herbert, 'they were accused of having possible connections with the criminal underworld'? He continues: 'We had a conference out of London in 1992 and four black solicitors were stopped in their car by the police.

The police questioned them at length, asking them what they were doing in such a good car.'Makbool Javaid, a former chairman for the Society of Black Lawyers, has had similar problems with police assumptions that solicitors from ethnic minorities will automatically have criminal connections.At the beginning of the 90s, Mr Javaid was acting for a suspect who had been arrested on a murder charge.

A second suspect chose to give himself up to the police and approached Mr Javaid's firm in order to do so.

'The police thought it was suspicious that I was acting for a second suspect on the same murder case,' says Mr Javaid.

'They accused my firm of taking part in a conspiracy and said they thought we were perverting the course of justice.

I called the Law Society straight away, and the Society clarified that we were acting properly.' Mr Javaid says the greatest problem lies in the fact that the police will instantly assume a lack of professionalism on the black criminal solicitor's part, especially if the solicitor's firm is operating from an area largely inhabited by ethnic minorities.Although it is perfectly normal conduct for a criminal solicitor's firm to handle two suspects on the same charge, the police automatically assumed there were grounds for suspicion of some kind of plot.

He elaborates: 'If you are a black solicitor and you are representing somebody from an ethnic minority, it is considered that you are colluding with them.

Because of this it can be forgotten that you are there in a professional capacity.'Mr Javaid marked himself out from the crowd by having the courage to approach the Law Society.

Much of the evidence of such treatment at the hands of the police is anecdotal because, as Marcia Williams, secretary to the Law Society's equal opportunities committee, explains: 'Complaining puts solicitors from ethnic minorities and their reputations on the line.

They get labelled as trouble-makers.

We hear anecdotal evidence of these goings on all the time, but we do not receive official complaints.

They just seem to accept it as par for the course.'Not all the reports of police behaviour are negative.

Mr Bonner sounds a more optimistic note by admitting that he has started to notice a change in police attitudes.

He remarks: 'The younger, more educated police officers seem to be more sensitive towards ethnic minorities.'Sewnarine Mohabir, the senior partner at Clapham, south London f irm, Mohabir & Co, is also generally optimistic about police conduct.

He became a duty solicitor at the inception of the scheme in his area, and reports: 'Throughout I have had the best relationship with every police officer -- I just have not encountered any problems at all.'Mr Herbert, looking towards a future in which more solicitors will have good relationships with the police, says: 'There will have to be some training, not only for the police, but for solicitors.

We recommended to the Stephen Lawrence enquiry that there should to be performance appraisal for equal opportunities, so that career advancement can be related to attitudes.' He says that in a few years time, many more newly-qualified lawyers will be Afro-Caribbean, yet another factor which, if it becomes reality, will encourage the long overdue shift in attitudes.Mr Javaid also thinks awareness training is the way forward.

He believes that such training can substantially improve relationships between solicitors and the police.

He concedes that being a police officer is not an easy job.

'It's often very stressful,' he says.

'The pressures are great.' However he adds: 'Police men and women need to develop a mentality that stops them from taking it out on minority groups.

Stress is no excuse.'NICHOLAS MURRAY LOOKS AT THE TEETHING PROBLEMS OF A NEW PILOT WHICH REQUIRES THE CPS TO WORK CLOSELY WITH THE POLICEIn September the government announced the start of a pilot scheme in six areas to speed up justice in magistrates' courts.

For a time it seemed that far from setting out on a 'fast track', lawyers working for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were shunting themselves into a siding.A dispute arose between CPS lawyers and their managers, whom they accused of steamrollering through a pilot that would see 'designated caseworkers' -- staff without legal qualifications -- presenting cases in magistrates' courts in six designated areas: Bromley, Croydon and Sutton; Blackburn and Burnley; Northamptonshire; north Staffordshire; north Wales; and Tyneside.The majority of CPS lawyers are represented by the First Division Association of Civil Servants (FDA), whose CPS convenor Kevin Goodwin described the October start date for the pilot as 'unrealistic', while insisting that his members were not opposed in principle to the pilot.

However, it did involve, according to the union, a fundamental change to the terms and conditions of CPS lawyers and to their professional position in relation to unqualified staff.Ultimately, agreement was reached at the end of October (see [1998] Gazette, 28 October, 3) on the so-called Narey pilot (adumbrated by Martin Narey's October 1997 report to the Home Secretary on reducing delays in the criminal justice system).

On 28 October, the last piece of the Narey jigsaw was fitted into place when the FDA, after a ballot of its members, agreed to participate in the supervision and deployment of the lay prosecutors.

The pilots, which had been running in other respects since 1 October, will now have six months to demonstrate their effectiveness and will be evaluated by consultants from Ernst & Young.

The whole project is being co-ordinated by a trials issue group, an inter-agency body of officials in the criminal justice system.One key element of the pilot is the co-operation between CPS staff and the police.

Prosecutors and lay prosecutors will work with police at stations to produce files for the next early first hearing -- for defendants likely to plead not guilty -- or early administrative hearings -- for those likely to plead guilty - - which could take place the same day.

There are also arrangements for CPS staff to be rostered to give out-of-hours advice to the police which could involve, in some cases, attending a police station in the middle of the night.

Recent research suggests the police tend not to ask for pre-charge advice but in some cases, prosecution and defence lawyers could be present to negotiate with each other at the police station.FDA spokesman Steve Dent, says his members had agreed to bury their reservations and support the pilot pragmatically once they had received assurances that CPS lawyers would have fairly 'stringent' controls over the deployment and supervision of the lay staff.

A statement of ethical principles had also been agreed for lay prosecutors.

'It's early days,' says Mr Dent.

But he adds: 'It doesn't mean we welcome the concept with open arms.

We simply had to face reality.' In particular, FDA members were worried that they could be open to charges of professional misconduct because of their responsibility for staff under their supervision and any mistakes the latter might make.

There was also a concern about job security, but the FDA recognises that work lost to lay prosecutors may be compensated for by new opportunities for some CPS lawyers in gaining access to higher courts.The union is also keen to stress that this is not just a predictable action by a professional group with a vested interest.

The FDA says it is concerned as much about the quality of justice.

Lay prosecutors could find themselves facing professional defence lawyers.

'The scales of justice could be tipped against the CPS,' says Mr Dent.

But he is now satisfied with the safeguards which have been offered.With the initial problems regarding CPS lawyers apparently resolved, attention has shifted to how the arrangements will work in practice, according to Roger Ede, secretary of the Law Society's criminal law committee.

He sees continuing uncertainty about the extent, if any, to which defence lawyers will have access to CPS staff in police stations.

'The police appear to be opposed to this and the CPS has no settled policy,' he says.

CPS staff will be rostered to give out-of-hours advice to the police, but it is only occasionally that this will involve a CPS lawyer attending a police station in the middle of the night.A major issue emerging for solicitors is whether defendants use a duty solicitor rather than their own solicitor.

The pilots have introduced what Mr Ede calls 'a rather strange concept', what is known as the 'duty solicitor of choice'.

This means if a defendant does not wish to use the duty solicitor, but their own solicitor is on a duty solicitor rota, then their own solicitor can do the work and be paid as a duty solicitor for doing it.

And there is the third option of applying for legal aid for a solicitor of one's own choosing.

The result will be to extend the range of lawyers who will be able to act for defendants.Legal aid costs will increase as a result of the increase in the number of defendants legally represented at court but there is at present no indication that the Legal Aid Board intends to take a tough line instead of allowing duty solicitor committees to determine how many people they require at court on any day.There are many other detailed practical issues being thrown up by the pilots but with the restoration of goodwill from CPS lawyers, these do not appear insoluble.

The government is keen to dispel any notion of 'bargain basement justice' and points out that at present the police take an average of 45 days to charge or summons a defendant.

It can then take another 28 days to get the case into a magistrates' court and an additional 60 days on average to complete proceedings there.Anything that can cut the costs to the system and to the stress for defendants and witnesses would seem well worth a try.THE NAREY PILOTUsing 'unqualified' but trained lay staff to prosecute guilty plea cases is only one of the elements of the Narey pilot.

Other provisions aimed at speeding up justice through reducing paperwork, administration and adjournments in the handling of criminal cases include:-- Getting cases to court the day after charge or as soon as possible thereafter.-- Crown Prosecution Service staff working alongside police in police stations to prepare cases for court.-- Crown Prosecution Service lawyers providing on-call, out-of-hours advice to police.-- Magistrates' courts working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and the police to organise early first hearings.-- Free legal advice from the duty solicitor at court for defendants intending to plead guilty.-- The introduction of an 'early administrative hearing' in the magistrates' courts to be presided over by a single magistrate or justices' clerk.-- Starting the most serious cases at the Crown Court.