Lawyers and legal groups will be running a host of events, including a discussion focusing on the lived experiences of Black trainees and lawyers at Clifford Chance, a panel event at Middle Temple on careers at the Bar, work on diversity and the significance of BHM, and an InterLaw Diversity Forum online fireside chat with Cynthia Adams, general counsel of Jefferies.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Black people often experience racism and discrimination. Then they are expected to fix it. This must change.’
Boyce said the Law Society wants to build on its 2020 report, Race for inclusion, which found adverse discrimination was experienced by 13% of Black, Asian and minority ethnic solicitors, while 16% experienced bullying. A third of Black African and Caribbean solicitors reported experiencing some form of discrimination or bullying in the workplace—the highest figure reported by any ethnic group.
The report also highlighted lack of progression in larger firms—34% of partners in single-partner firms are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
Boyce said: ‘As part of our report, we recommended that firms have open, honest conversations about race and what needs to change in their organisation, implement blind and contextualised recruitment, set targets for senior leaders, and instil a data-driven approach to diversity and inclusion.
‘In the two years since we undertook this research, there have been positive signs of improvement.’ However, she added, ‘only 1% of solicitors working in the City are Black’.
Last week, the Law Society launched a diversity and inclusion framework. It provides a simple three-step action plan with regular checkpoints to help firms and in-house teams both large and small develop a plan, deliver it and monitor their progress.
