Priorities for the march to equality

I have seen a significant amount of change during my 35-year career in law, most notably the improvement and increased focus on diversity in law firms. These steps forward have been a result of societal changes and conscious initiatives from the legal profession as it becomes more cognisant of the barriers facing minorities. Nevertheless, as a profession we have not achieved true equality yet, particularly at partner level, and momentum must be maintained. Not only has this been important to ensure our profession is representative of the society we serve, it is increasingly accepted that diversity is good for business, with recent statistics suggesting that companies in the top quartile for gender and ethnic diversity outperform their competitors. We must tackle the remaining hurdles for minorities, in particular the biases people have without even realising it.

The latest data we have paints a positive picture for diversity. Statistics from the Law Society show women have outnumbered men