Minority Lawyers Conference highlights "watershed year" for profession

Held on Saturday 9 April, the biennial Minority Lawyers Conference brought together high-profile speakers - including Attorney General Dominic Grieve and influential Islamic thinker Tariq Ramadan - to celebrate the achievements of black and Asian lawyers, and highlight the issues facing the profession in a year of both challenge and opportunity.

The conference is organised jointly by the Law Society, the Bar Council and ILEX. Law Society President Linda Lee said it was an opportunity to create lively and topical debate surrounding issues faced by BME lawyers, including career development: "'The Law Society wants to ensure that all those who are talented progress, regardless of their ethnic background or social circumstances."

Conference co-chair Sundeep Bhatia said that 2011 "represents a watershed year", with many BME firms dealing with the introduction of alternative business structures (ABS) in October and government cuts. As reported in the Gazette, he said: "These new structures will have a very real effect on small [BME] law firms, which will need to innovate and embrace the opportunities available if they are to survive. It is well documented that BME solicitors are disproportionately represented amongst small sole practitioner firms. Many of these firms rely on the availability of legal aid in order to stay in business."

David Taylor, chair of the Law Society’s membership board, also took the opportunity to warn that all solicitors need to accept that with the arrival of ABS, the professional landscape is going to change: "These reforms cannot be ignored. In five years’ time, legal practices of all types are going to look very different. If solicitors are going to thrive, they need to be active participants in the future." Grieve agreed, stating that the reforms "at times make me anxious", but that their introduction was "revolutionary" and would be handled with all the necessary safeguards.