Black solicitors facing tough times

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Black communities face lack of access to legal services due to disproportionate punishments on solicitors from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to a new report. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published the report of the Independent Comparative Case Review (ICCR), conducted by Professor Gus John. It highlights how many black and minority ethnic backgrounds (BME) solicitors operate as small firms and so may lack the necessary staffing to keep paperwork up to the standards required by monitoring bodies such as the SRA. As a result, the SRA may then impose punishments on ethnic minority solicitors for administration infringements and thus cause BME firms to withdraw their services, and so reduce access to legal services for black communities. In this extract, Professor Gus John, speaks to the BBC's Devon Daley about the findings.