Our diversity monitoring work

We continue to see the longstanding overrepresentation of men and solicitors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in concerns raised with us, and those we investigate.

To help us, and others, to understand why we, like so many regulators are seeing this pattern, we have commissioned new independent research from three universities to provide insight into what is happening.

The literature review carried out as part of this research found little existing material looking specifically at the legal sector. But they did identify a number of common themes from other sectors which might mean those from certain ethnic backgrounds are more likely to be reported to their regulator. These related to:

• Conscious and unconscious perceptions or expectations, among those making the complaints, which mean they are more likely to complain about an individual.
• Being more exposed to working environments, types of work or other case-related circumstances that by their very nature generate more complaints.

Based on the findings of the literature review, the universities are undertaking an objective and in-depth analysis of SRA datasets. They will also explore the experiences of solicitors and behaviours among legal service users.

A final report on the research is expected to be published in spring 2024.