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05 May 2023 / Pauline Campbell
Issue: 8023 / Categories: Features , Profession , Diversity , Career focus , Training & education
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Time to pick up the pace on social mobility?

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Pauline Campbell questions the rate of progress on diversity & access across the legal profession
  • 1% of partners within legal firms are black—are perceptions standing in the way of progress?
  • Despite innovative practices, top legal firms in the UK are losing out on talented candidates due to a hesitancy to embrace change.

As a nominee for Legal Personality of the Year at the LexisNexis Legal Awards last year, I was delighted to attend the prestigious awards ceremony. Looking out at the sea of white faces, so different to my dark brown skin, however, I could not help feeling disheartened that the profession I love still has so far to go to address its lack of diversity.

The solicitor view

Law firms are taking action. To give just two examples, Browne Jacobson has developed its FAIRE (Fairer Access Into Legal Careers) programme to inspire others to help break down barriers, while Clifford Chance works with graduate recruitment diversity specialist RARE to reach high-potential candidates

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Sidley—James Inness

Sidley—James Inness

Partner joins capital markets team in London office

Haynes Boone—William Cecil

Haynes Boone—William Cecil

Firm announces appointment of partner as UK general counsel

Devonshires—Nicholas Barrows

Devonshires—Nicholas Barrows

Firm appoints first chief marketing officer to drive growth strategy

NEWS
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NLJ this week: CPR tweak closes third-party disclosure gap
A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
NLJ this week: Court of Appeals wrestles with Mazur fallout
The long-running Mazur saga edged towards its finale as the Court of Appeal heard arguments on whether non-solicitors can ‘conduct litigation’. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School reports from a packed courtroom where 16 wigs watched Nick Bacon KC argue that Mr Justice Sheldon had failed to distinguish between ‘tasks and responsibilities’
NLJ this week: Appeal court reins in ‘wrong defendant’ switcheroo

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

NLJ this week: Driving test fraudsters steer towards jail
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
NLJ this week: Deepfakes demand data law muscle
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
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