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02 September 2020
Issue: 7900 / Categories: Legal News , Equality , Profession
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Tackling barriers: Race Fairness Commitment

A dozen law firms have signed up to the Race Fairness Commitment (RFC), adding to the 17 Magic Circle and City law firm signatories who signed the pledge in July

The RFC uses data-driven techniques to tackle organisational weaknesses within firms that unfairly hold back black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) employees. It was devised by Rare, a diversity recruitment specialist.

The 12 firms are Baker McKenzie, Bird & Bird, Burges Salmon, BWB, Clyde & Co, Dechert, Fieldfisher, Gowling, Mishcon De Reya, Stephenson Harwood, Taylor Wessing, and Withers. Their commitment includes monitoring pay and promotion rates, ensuring race and racism is talked about in induction and exit interviews, and fostering an inclusive workplace where BAME people can be themselves at work.

Rare founder Raph Mokades said: ‘Change doesn’t happen overnight, but tangible, measurable initiatives such as this empower firms to make a real difference within their organisations.’

Find out more at: www.rarerecruitment.co.uk.

Issue: 7900 / Categories: Legal News , Equality , Profession
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

International arbitration team strengthened by double partner hire

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Firm celebrates trio holding senior regional law society and junior lawyers division roles

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Partner joins commercial and business litigation team in London

NEWS
The Legal Action Group (LAG)—the UK charity dedicated to advancing access to justice—has unveiled its calendar of training courses, seminars and conferences designed to support lawyers, advisers and other legal professionals in tackling key areas of public interest law
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
Employment law is shifting at the margins. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ this week, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School examines a Court of Appeal ruling confirming that volunteers are not a special legal species and may qualify as ‘workers’
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
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