‘What sort of profession do we want to have?’ – young Black lawyers on diversity, inclusion, and what needs to be done

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‘What sort of profession do we want to have?’ – young Black lawyers on diversity, inclusion, and what needs to be done

‘There’s lawyers all over the world. The question isn’t whether or not Black people can be lawyers. The question is, what is it about England and Wales that means that Black lawyers don’t get the same opportunities as their white counterparts? And there’s no way to explain that other than racism.’

This comment from one City associate frankly states the issue. ‘When we talk about DEI’, they continue, ‘it’s often a very polite, corporate way of saying “Don’t be racist.”’ Law firms are, perhaps understandably, reluctant to use words like racism in their communications. But failure to acknowledge the problem makes it all the harder to resolve.

Continue reading “‘What sort of profession do we want to have?’ – young Black lawyers on diversity, inclusion, and what needs to be done”

‘We’ve gone a long way but are by no means complacent’ – embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion in the legal profession

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‘We’ve gone a long way but are by no means complacent’ – embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion in the legal profession

Travers Smith partner and senior LGBTQ+ champion Daniel Gerring discusses with Legal Business the importance for law firms to avoid complacency and how they should continue to persevere with LGBTQ+ inclusion. Continue reading “‘We’ve gone a long way but are by no means complacent’ – embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion in the legal profession”

Great minds don’t think alike – why LGBTQ+ allyship is a business must-have

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Great minds don’t think alike – why LGBTQ+ allyship is a business must-have

Pride Month is here again; corporate social media profiles are awash with the colours of LGBTQ+ pride, drag queens are braving office lighting for bingo events, and rainbow flags, lanyards and badges are all over the City.

Since the first Pride parade in London in 1972, three years after the start of the gay rights movement in New York following the Stonewall riots, the concept of Pride has grown from its protest origins to a colourful celebration of queerness, and, to some more cynical eyes, a marketing opportunity. Continue reading “Great minds don’t think alike – why LGBTQ+ allyship is a business must-have”

Success or failure? The push for gender equality is no longer a binary matter

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Success or failure? The push for gender equality is no longer a binary matter

Talking about diversity in law is hard. While there has been widespread progress when it comes to driving up the number of women in law, it is clear there is still much to be achieved with regards to other underrepresented groups. It is a particularly challenging task given both the scarcity of useful data and the related privacy considerations that make it hard to capture.

Put simply, we know there is much more to diversity than the issue of women in law – and that gender is not binary. That said, to ignore the progress women are making in the upper echelons of the legal market (and, in turn, The Legal 500 rankings) would mean we were failing to do justice to those breaking the glass ceiling and the profession more broadly. Continue reading “Success or failure? The push for gender equality is no longer a binary matter”

Guest comment: Corporate values mean nothing without cost – City law’s moment has come to champion diversity

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Guest comment: Corporate values mean nothing without cost – City law’s moment has come to champion diversity

An institution’s values and commitment to inclusion are only real when tested. It is in challenging times that we decide whether we embrace those values and these are the defining moments that ultimately prove their worth. Amid a global pandemic, political upheavals, the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent movement that has flowed from his death, the profession’s actions will show if our values are either luxury items to be paraded when convenient or the rock on which we build our business.

It is precisely now beset by challenges that we need to put inclusion at the heart of our decisions. Leading law firms have often waxed lyrical about commitments to diversity; now is the moment to step up if we truly believe inclusion is a core value and an economic imperative. Continue reading “Guest comment: Corporate values mean nothing without cost – City law’s moment has come to champion diversity”