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NLJ this week: Obstacles hampering progress for talented lawyers

05 May 2023
Issue: 8023 / Categories: Legal News , Diversity , Profession , Career focus
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Senior litigation lawyer Pauline Campbell, writing in this week’s NLJ, sets out some of her personal experience of diversity and access after 17 years in the legal profession. 

Law firms say they want to attract talented candidates, and are taking action on diversity and social mobility, yet progress is slow. Why? Are perceptions standing in the way of progress? What must change?

Campbell, now an award-winning solicitor at the London Borough of Waltham Forest, encountered a series of obstacles en route. She notes law firms are continuing to miss out ‘on talent and profit’ by not taking on graduates from non-professional family backgrounds who attended state schools.

As Campbell writes, ‘barriers are not limited to mere practices and procedures, and also encompass the perceptions of those who work within a profession’. 

Read more from Campbell on talent and progression here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Winckworth Sherwood—Arcangelo D’Apolito

Winckworth Sherwood—Arcangelo D’Apolito

Private wealth and tax offering boosted by dual qualified partner hire

Sackers—John Card

Sackers—John Card

Pensions firm announces hire in project management team

Myers & Co—Kerry Boyle

Myers & Co—Kerry Boyle

Staffordshire firm appoints head of commercial property

NEWS
The High Court has dealt a blow to thousands of Brazilians suing mining giant BHP Group following the collapse of the Fundão Dam
An Osborne Clarke partner has won his appeal against a £50,000 fine from regulators for alleged misuse of ‘without prejudice’ correspondence while representing his client, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi
An attempt to use Mazur to defend a serial fare-dodger charged with making 112 train journeys without a ticket has failed at Westminster Magistrates’ Court
Lord Reed, president of the Supreme Court, has announced he will retire next January
Tackling the backlogs of cases in the tribunals will be a priority this year, Lord Justice Dingemans, senior president of tribunals, has said
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