In 1965 the UK enacted the Race Relations Act while the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) opened for signature and ratification. In the US, the changes that brought down the walls of segregation, conveying some equality to black people essentially began with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These ground-breaking instruments marked a commitment—domestically and internationally by the state parties to the ICERD—to address racial injustice and inequality through legal means.Yet, the intervening years reveal the challenges of pursuing racial justice and equality through the medium of law. In recent years, allegations of institutional racism have been levelled against numerous public institutions in the UK, while the rise of populism globally has challenged the ability of law to effect change.This edited collection draws attention to the need to reflect on the persistence of racial inequalities and injustices despite law’s intervention and arguably because of its ‘unconscious’ role in their promotion. It does so from a multiplicity of perspectives ranging from the doctrinal, socio-legal, critical and theoretical, thereby generating different kinds of knowledge about race and law. By exploring contemporary issues in racial justice and equality, contributors examine the role of law—whether domestic or international, hard or soft—in advancing racial equality and justice and consider whether it can effect substantive change.

Avis is a Senior Research Fellow, Senior Lecturer and Academic Professional Development Fellow at the University of Westminster, London. She is an experienced researcher with expertise in researching the legal profession. Avis is a member of Westminster Law School's Centre on the Legal Profession and was a member of the University's Diversity Focus Group from 2006 until 2011.

Patricia Tuitt is a legal academic working within the field of postcolonial studies. Formerly Professor and Dean of the School of Law at Birkbeck, University of London, she now curates an online resource (patriciatuitt.com), consisting of academic articles, book reviews and blog posts. Her publications include the monographs, False Images: Law's Construction of the Refugee (1996) and Race, Law, Resistance (2004). She is co-editor of Critical Beings: Law, Nation and the Global Legal Subject (2004) and Crime Fiction and the Law (2016).  Patricia is Vice Chair of the Executive Committee of Liberty and a member of its Policy Council. She is on the Editorial Committee of Feminist Legal Studies and the Board of Global Research Network (GRN).