Public authorities should only invite tenders from law firms that publish data on the gender and ethnicity of their staff, an influential independent advisory panel has recommended to the Lord Chancellor in advice revealed last week.

The Legal Services Consultative Panel called for law firms and barristers' chambers to undertake diversity monitoring - including keeping records for partners and QCs - and publish the results on their Web sites. Most firms currently say that they do not monitor the ethnicity of staff.


The recommendations follow an investigation into entry, retention and competition in the legal profession by the panel. It noted that the cost of qualification could be a barrier to candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, and said such costs should be taken into account in any future review of qualifications. The panel also advised the Lord Chancellor that routes to qualification that give credit for work-based learning - which are under consideration by the Law Society as part of its controversial training framework review - should be considered.


Other recommendations included a proposal that the new Legal Services Board, which will oversee the legal services sector when the Clementi reforms are implemented, should be given sufficient funds to carry out monitoring and research into gender and ethnicity in the profession.


Gifty Edila, president of the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors, said: 'Public bodies want to comply with standards set by the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality, and they are concerned that when they instruct law firms and barristers' chambers, they cannot be sure that they are spreading the work around among people who are from different backgrounds, and people with disabilities.


'At the moment firms will only provide a list of names. This will be an effective way of getting firms to provide the information on diversity, gender and disability.'


Yvonne Brown, chairwoman of the Black Solicitors Network (BSN), which was consulted on the advice and had pressed for monitoring, said: 'Firms can only ensure equality of opportunity if they have relevant information against which to judge their performance. Including issues of diversity in part of the tendering criteria for government departments is long overdue.'



She added: 'The BSN's diversity league table will enable the top 100 City firms to ensure they are well placed if the government proceeds with this.'


A spokeswoman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs said it welcomed the panel's proposals and that it is 'in discussions with the Law Society and the Bar Council on the detail and practicalities of the recommendations.'