If I were a Briton, I would be feeling fairly besieged at the moment.

What with the recently-released report from the Commission into the Future of Multi-Cultural Britain saying that 'British' is racially coded and with reports of a conspiracy by the Germans, the French and the Catholics to use the Trojan horse of European Union to convert them from proud Britons into Europeans.This shows that the politics of integration is far more complicated than many (most especially the Runnymede Trust-appointed-commissioners) appreciate.The legal profession has yet to embark on its own critical self-examination in the light of Britain's changed circumstances.

Such progress as there has been has resulted from years of campaigning by minority law groups.There being no one minority law organisation that speaks for the whole minority law constituency, and no one regulating authority for the legal profession -- responsibility being divided between the Law Society, the Bar Council, and the providers of legal education -- the result is a problem that has fallen between the many stools.Some might think that if we ignore it long enough the problem will go away.

But a problem ignored is often a problem that grows, particularly in the light of reports that the ethnic minority population is getting progressively larger.

Like European union, having gone thus far down the road to a multi-cultural Britain, turning back is not an option, and nor is standing still.

Forward movements should not be the result of reluctant shuffling but firm steps taken with a clear sense of purpose towards an inclusive legal profession.I can do no better than to quote the words of Larry Seidentop from his book Democracy in Europe: 'The legal class in a democratic society .

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must be open and seen to be open.

It must become the badge of social mobility in a society, if its role is not to nourish suspicions of anti-democratic prejudice .

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Judicial review provides a powerful weapon constraining the operation of the majority principle, combating a crude or populist form of democracy.

Judicial review can only maximise its potential, however, if legal education is easily available and entry into the legal class is perceived to be unproblematic.'The first part of this double-headed prescription, access to legal education, has been achieved.

The challenge that remains is access to the legal class.

This requires a fresh look at the regulations governing opportunities to practise.

The existing requirement that to practise a graduate must first find someone on the 'inside' to let him in through the award of a training contract or pupillage -- especially in circumstances where the authorities cannot guarantee that these 'keys' to the profession will be available to all who pass the law examinations to the requisite standard -- belongs to the age of pre-multi-cultural Britain.The African Caribbean and Asian Lawyers Group will be continuing its work to push the case for fairer access to the legal class.

It welcomes all those who wish to meet this challenge.