The SRA has released a new impact assessment looking at the deregulation of the prescribed SRA minimum salary for trainees. In 2014, the SRA removed the minimum salary levels for trainee solicitors. The previous levels of prescribed salary were replaced with a requirement for trainees to be paid at least the national minimum or living wage,…
Women at the Bar: exploring ways to promote gender equality
Following on from the Bar Standards Board 2016 ‘Women at the Bar’ survey report, the BSB has now published a second 2018 report aimed to explore and develop potential solutions to address two of the key issues identified by the 2016 research, namely: Unfair treatment (issues around policies and practice in work allocation, flexible working, and…
IBA Report: Women in Commercial Legal Practice
Executive summary The term ‘feminisation of the legal profession’ is often used to describe changes in the legal profession. This is both a misnomer and misleading. Although women generally outnumber men in law schools, and have done so for a decade or more, men still outnumber women in senior positions in law firms. Indeed, women’s…
Event: Diversity and inclusion in the legal profession – widening access, improving workplace culture and assessing new regulatory priorities
8 March 2018|Central London This seminar will focus on the challenges and opportunities for law firms, regulators and wider stakeholders for improving diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Delegates will consider what more can be done to improve access to legal professions for candidates from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, looking at the role of the…
Unlocking the benefits of diversity
Research undertaken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (England and Wales) aims to shed light on what is being done, and what can be done, to improve the representation of female and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) solicitors in senior roles such as partners or directors. The aim of the research was to understand what…
The Women and Men of Harvard Law School: Preliminary Results from the HLS Career Study
The Preliminary Report presents the results of the Harvard Law School Career Study (HLSCS), conducted by the school’s Center on the Legal Profession (CLP). Begun with a generous grant from a group of women alumnae in connection with the 55th celebration of the graduation of the school’s first female students in 1953, the study seeks…
Centralised assessment seen widening choice, lowering barriers
Proposals to centralise the assessment of would-be solicitors in England and Wales are highly likely to increase the number, and broaden the range, of training providers in the market, according to a report published by the Bridge Group. The report, based on 18 individual and group, semi-structured interviews (25 participants in total) with a representative range of…
Equity and Diversity in Nova Scotia’s Entity Regulation Management System
This paper was prepared for the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society as part of its programme to transform regulation. The paper sets out the equity mandate of the Society, and emphasizes that institutional continuity requires these values not be lost in the transition to entity regulation. It articulates the case for equity and diversity in entity regulation,…