The Legal Services Board has set ‘clear expectations’ on front-line regulators to make the profession more diverse after declaring current progress ‘slow and uneven’.
Publishing a 'statement of policy' to replace guidance published in 2017, the oversight regulator said it had a statutory duty to encourage an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession but progress within the sector to dismantle barriers has been ‘slow and uneven’. For instance, women represent 62% of solicitors but only 32% of equity partners. Men are significantly underrepresented in the conveyancing sector - but are more likely than women to be conveyancing managers.
Setting out its ‘case for change’, the LSB said a review of regulators’ diversity data monitoring practices evidenced challenges building a reliable, high-quality understanding of the diversity profiles of their regulated communities. As well as gaps in data and poor response rates for some disciplines, the LSB said there were inconsistencies in the timings of collection, the diversity characteristics collected and the national benchmarks used. Some regulators also collect statistics on unregulated populations in their overall statistics.
The LSB's statement comprises four outcomes that regulators are expected to pursue:
- Regulators take strategic, evidence-based and collaborative actions to encourage a diverse legal profession;
- Regulators take effective steps to ensure regulatory approaches, processes and decision-making support equality and fairness and do not undermine efforts to encourage a diverse profession;
- Regulators support fair, flexible, and accessible pathways into, within and back into the professions that encourage a diverse legal profession; and
- Regulators ensure their frameworks effectively support authorised persons to uphold professional conduct, behaviours, and competencies that encourage a diverse legal profession.
The statement of policy also includes ‘enhanced expectations’ that regulators should consider. For instance, to support fair, flexible and accessible pathways into the profession, they should consider publishing outcomes for qualifying courses and exams, disaggregated by relevant diversity characteristics.
LSB interim chief executive Richard Orpin said: ‘A diverse profession helps to build public trust, improves outcomes for consumers, and supports innovation and growth. However, progress has been slow and uneven. Our proposals build on extensive research and engagement, including insights from lived experience, data analysis, and dialogue with professionals and other groups across the sector. They provide clear expectations for regulators and are designed to support meaningful, measurable change.’
The consultation closes on 2 March.
