The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) this week hit back strongly at concerns raised by a leading backbench Labour MP about the 'disproportionate number of investigations' it conducts into ethnic minority firms.


Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, has laid an early day motion in Parliament - thus far signed by six other MPs - to express his 'deep concern' and call for the Secretary of State for Justice to initiate a review of the SRA.



Speaking ahead of a meeting this week with SRA chief executive Antony Townsend, Mr Vaz said: 'The SRA has failed to explain to me so far why they investigate such a high number of ethnic minority solicitors firms. I hope that a full and frank explanation will be given to me at this meeting. I was shocked to learn that 63% of interventions in 2006 were against non-white firms. This is a public body; they need to be held accountable.'



But the SRA explained that the figure was wrong - in 2006, the practices of two Asian and nine black solicitors were closed down, compared with 22 white/European solicitors and 26 solicitors whose race is not known.



Mr Townsend added: 'In all these cases, there was evidence of serious risk to the public... We simply do not target solicitors or firms on the basis of race. Our job is to protect the public and we apply our policies fairly and consistently.



'I would be delighted to meet Jack Straw, the Secretary of State for Justice, and representatives of minority ethnic lawyers to put right any misconceptions about the statistics. We are keen to explain the measures we are adopting to ensure the fairness of our procedures. These are important and complex issues which will only be resolved if we work together.'



Last year, the SRA published research which indicated that ethnic minority solicitors are disproportionately represented in regulatory decisions that it makes, but an initial race impact assessment drawn up by an external consultant said the finding did not necessarily mean that discrimination existed (see [2006] Gazette, 27 July, 4, 26).



The SRA has since instigated a programme of further research and training.