DCA Working Party - Invitation to comment on discussion paper entitled “Increasing Diversity in the Legal Profession: a Report on Government Proposals”

This was an invitation to the TSG specficially to comment on certain issues being discussed by a working party formed by the Department of Constitutional Affairs to look at diversity in the legal profession.

The TSG concentrated on the access to the profession and the barriers to entry.  The Response centred on equality and diversity issues and the financial issues facing trainees and students which will stop them from entering the profession or considering law as a career.

TSG RESPONSE

The full text of the response can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.

The TSG recognises that training to be a solicitor is always going to be hard intellectually, expensive in terms of education costs, time consuming and require dedication and commitment. However, this should be balanced against the need for the profession to be representative of society and not to discriminate. The route to qualification (whichever one is chosen!) should be open to all should they wish to embark on it.

It seems trite to say that access to the legal profession is tantamount to access to justice, and should therefore be open to all. It is important that this remain true, not only in practice, but also in the public’s perception.

The main barriers to the profession that affect the members of the TSG are as follows (in no particular order) in broad terms: 

1                     Race, religion, nationality or ethnicity

2                     Ageism

3                     Gender

4                     Financial constraints, including debt

5                     Social class

6                     Bullying and pressure

7                     High degree of competition

This is highlighted through the Executive and National Committee’s own experiences, experiences of the membership at large and based on calls and emails to the TSG Helpline (a copy of the Helpline Review is enclosed with this Response for your information, and a short précis of the previous report (July 2005) is included as an Appendix to this Response). 

When commenting on the Training Framework Review proposals last year, the TSG highlighted that any new training proposals need to ensure that trainee solicitors embark on the qualification process knowing that:

• the standard of training they receive will be the same no matter what their background, educational establishment or training firm; 
• they will be offered safeguards and protections throughout their training process; and 
• that the only barrier to becoming a solicitor is merit. 

If any of these elements are lost sight of, then the TSG fears that we shall be left with a training system that leaves trainees with more debt. Such a system would discourage those without private incomes from embarking on a job for the minimum wage that they could have received as a school leaver, without at least 3 years of higher study and large debt. If the profession is not representative of society, then we could further be left with a profession in which the public has no confidence in, viewing being a solicitor as a ‘soft option’.