EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE. Minutes of the meeting on 13 April 2010 at in the Breams Room, 113 Chancery Lane, London PART 1

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1 Approved by the Chair and posted on Corporate Business 7 June 2010 EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE Present In attendance Apologies Glossary Minutes of the meeting on 13 April 2010 at in the Breams Room, 113 Chancery Lane, London PART 1 Nwabueze Nwokolo, Chair Teresa Etim-Gorst Geoffrey Kamil Mark Landon David Merkel Caroline Wilson, Council & Board Administrator, Head of E&D and Corporate Responsibility Mehrunnisa Lalani, Director of Policy (Inclusion), Solicitors Regulation Authority, Director of Communications, Inclusion & Corporate Responsibility Keith Etherington Clare McConnell Leslie Moran ARP AWS BME E&D LAPB MLC PII Assigned Risks Pool Association of Women Solicitors Black and Minority Ethnic Equality and Diversity Legal Affairs & Policy Board Minority Lawyers Conference Professional Indemnity Insurance 60 ANNOUNCEMENTS Improving diversity practice in law firms Action The Chair outlined the programme for the Law Society conference on 13 April which aimed to promote good practice in the legal professional through promotion of the Diversity & Inclusion Charter, Firms Diversity Forum and E&D Standards & Toolkit. The Secretary had tabled the event flyer for information. 61 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS The Secretary outlined the areas covered by the Law Society s draft guidance on conflicts of interest at meetings and in the appointment of committee members. Caroline Wilson and Mark Landon informed the Committee that their respective law firms undertook work on behalf of insurers who provided PII cover to solicitors. The Legal Affairs & Policy Board would discuss the revised guidance at its meeting on 11 May. The Chair asked that the final guidance be circulated to members. Equality & Diversity Committee 13 April 2010 Part 1 20

2 62 MINUTES The Committee agreed the Part 1 minutes of the meeting on 11 February CHAIR S REPORT Professional Indemnity Insurance The Chair referred to the Law Society s survey on the professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal, as reported to the Council in March 2010, in which the experiences of black and minority ethnic (BME) firms were compared with those of the wider profession. She stated that the Society would use the survey results to inform its response to allegations that some qualifying insurers and brokers engaged in racial discrimination during the renewal period that made it more difficult for BME firms to obtain the compulsory level of PII required to practise. There were a disproportionately high number of BME firms in the small and medium enterprise sector of the profession, which had experienced the most difficulties in obtaining PII in recent years. Continued problems in obtaining PII could ultimately reduce the number of BME firms and, in turn, the choice of legal representatives available to the public, particularly from disadvantaged and minority communities. The Chair reported that the insurer Quinn had gone into administration and this could further jeopardise future provision of PII cover for a number of firms. Assigned Risks Pool There was an over-representation of BME firms in the Assigned Risks Pool and thus number had increased dramatically over the past three years. Over 90% of firms in the ARP had one or two partners, although BME firms comprised a high proportion of sole practitioners and two partner firms, this did not fully explain the disproportional number of BME firms in the ARP. The Chair believed that a number well-run BME firms were finding it difficult to get insurance cover and had to go into the ARP this year. In some instances the premiums requested were impossibly high; insurers were also profiling firms and refusing to insure those doing certain types of work, usually covering immigration, conveyancing and family law. Insurers were also requesting excessive amounts of personal data as part of the application process, particularly from sole practitioners. It had been suggested that BME firms were being refused PII cover by postcode or because they had African or Asian sounding names; also significant were the ethnic makeup of the firm, or whether the practitioners qualified or had practised outside England and Wales. While there was no evidence that the cost of PII insurance for was higher for BME firms, the survey findings indicated that there may be unequal treatment of BME firms. More work was needed to understand whether this was actually the case and what factors could have caused it. It was agreed that: 1. the Committee be kept informed of developments in the PII market; related research findings from the Law Society; the status of Quinn Insurers; and any information on the targeting of profiling of solicitors by lenders; Equality & Diversity Committee 13 April 2010 Part 1 21

3 2. check to see whether the Committee could be granted access to confidential papers relating to PII cover and future of the ARP; 3. a working group be established, comprising Nwabueze Nwololo, David Merkel, Mark Landon and Teresa Etim-Gorst to co-ordinate the Committee s response to these issues arising from the Council meeting on 28 April; 4. a briefing paper and action plan be prepared on these issues after the Council meeting on 28 April for consideration before the next EDC meeting in July. Post Meeting Note The Secretary circulated an update on Quinn Insurance and PII prepared for members by the Law Society on 16 April: The Gazette (16 April) stated that no action was needed on Quinn Insurance: The 28 April Council meeting agreed that a summary of the survey be published; that work commence on an action plan to gather more detailed and specific evidence of possible inappropriate behaviours on the part of qualifying insurers and others; and that the action plan be submitted to the Management Board after consultation with the E & D Committee. 64 MATTERS ARISING REPORT 64.1 Equality and diversity work with Council members At the last meeting the Committee discussed how best to support Council members develop their understanding of equality and diversity issues; this followed the exchange that took place between Council members in January (minute 59). reported that an internet resource was planned for members that included background information about changes within the profession, information, with alerts, on equality and diversity work coming before Council. The Committee agreed that Pearn Kandola be approached to prepare a package of face to face E&D training to complement the online and face to face modules already in place. Committees were already being briefed on the use of the Equality Impact Assessment Tool and there was a need for Council members to familiarise themselves with its operation. felt that these measures would significantly increase Council members awareness and understanding of E&D issues and the role they could play in progressing the diversity agenda across the profession and in the work of the Law Society Collaborative working across the Law Society Group The Equality Bill received Royal Assent on 8 April to become The Equality Act 2010, which sought to codify and simplify equality legislation, bringing together nine major pieces of discrimination legislation and over 100 statutory instruments covering a wide range of rules and regulatory matters. Pat Corcoan Aisha Dass Equality & Diversity Committee 13 April 2010 Part 1 22

4 The Act had replaced the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, and the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007). The Act would have implications for the Law Society Group in its functions as a professional representative body, regulator and employer. An implementation group involving key Law Society and SRA stakeholders had been established to discuss and agree the measures to put into place in readiness for implementation of the Equality Act. would report back on the first stakeholder meeting scheduled for the end of April, which would provide an opportunity to discuss themes and begin the planning and consultation process Minority Lawyers Conference 2011 The 2011 Minority Lawyers Conference (MLC) would be hosted by the Law Society. The theme of the conference, Embracing change, had been agreed. The MLC planning committee held its first meeting on 24 March which was co-chaired by Nwabueze Nwokolo and Sundeep Bhatia. Steering group members in attendance were Babs Akinyanju (British Nigerian Law Forum), Angela Campbell (Bar Council), Jerry Garvey (Law Society), and Dorrit White (Black Solicitors Network). The planning committee was scheduled to meet on 28 April 2010 at 18:30. Potential keynote speakers were being identified and the following suggestions had been made for break out sessions: Regulation Judicial appointments Personal development Legal aid reforms / access to justice Globalisation / emerging markets Alternative business structures / multi disciplinary practices Mediation Solicitor advocates Professional Indemnity Insurance / Assigned Risk Pool Law Society projects, including Diversity Charter and E&D toolkit 65 EQUAL PAY RESEARCH PROJECT The findings from a series of focus groups conducted by the Law Society with BME practitioners in October-November 2009 was not discussed and would be considered at the next meeting. 66 MILBURN COMMISSION AND ACCESS TO THE PROFESSION The report outlining the key themes from the President s dinner held on 2 March 2010 to discuss Milburn Commission findings on access to the professions would be Pat Corcoarn presented to the next meeting. The Secretary had circulated the Society s latest Becoming a judge booklet, which outlined the options available for solicitors who wished to be trained and considered for the judiciary. Equality & Diversity Committee 13 April 2010 Part 1 23

5 67 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS The Law Society s draft response to the Nueberger Commission was not considered by the Committee and would be circulated after the meeting for comments. The final version would be presented to the LAPB on 11 May. 68 UPDATE ON EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY ACTIVITIES 68.1 The Law Society This report was not considered and would be updated and presented to the next meeting The Solicitors Regulation Authority The Committee received the SRA s Q4 report on progress made against the ten objectives set out in its E&D action plan, including work on Equality Impact Assessments. Mehrunnisa Lalani stated that steady progress had been made in embedding E&D activities into all aspects of the business, as employer and regulator Legal Complaints Service The Committee would consider an update on LCS E&D activities at its next meeting. Aisha Dass 69 SCHEDULE OF WORK The Committee Schedule of Work was not considered and would be updated and presented to the next meeting. 70 REPORTS FROM THE LAW SOCIETY BOARDS The report summarising E&D activity on the Law Society Boards was not considered and would be updated and presented to the next meeting. 71 ANY OTHER BUSINESS There were no items raised under AOB. 72 DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING 20 July 2010 commencing at 13:30. The meeting ended at 17:00 Equality & Diversity Committee 13 April 2010 Part 1 24