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UK LAW FIRM COLLECTIVE INCREASES ETHNIC MINORITY PARTNER REPRESENTATION
The representation of ethnic minority partners at the eight firms that established the UK’s first cross-firm collective aimed at tackling racial underrepresentation in the legal sector has significantly improved since the group's inception. This represents an average increase across the firms of three percentage points.
This news marks the three-year anniversary of Legal CORE (Collaboration on Race and Ethnicity) launched in 2021 by founding firms A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Norton Rose Fulbright and Slaughter and May. From November 2024 existing chair firms Slaughter and May and Norton Rose Fulbright will pass on leadership of the initiative to Clifford Chance and Linklaters.
Since its inception Legal CORE has grown to 44 law firm members, all focused on the retention and progression of ethnic minority talent. Half of these members now publish ethnicity targets to further drive their commitments to tackle underrepresentation including associate, trainee and business services populations.
Over the last three years, Legal CORE has driven collective action and engaged with hundreds of individuals across the legal sector through various events and forums. This includes a series of leadership events to encourage frank and open peer-to-peer dialogue featuring guest speakers such as business psychologist and diversity specialist, Professor Binna Kandola OBE discussing “What is racism?”; five best practice forums run for Diversity and Inclusion practitioners on topics such as ‘Effective reverse mentoring’ to spark insightful discussion and share collaborative best practice ideas; and interactive Think Tanks which provide an opportunity to for grassroots engagement with supervisors and managers to crowdsource solutions to D&I challenges.
Outside of the legal sector the collective has partnered with Rare Recruitment by funding its Hemisphere Education training programme in over 60 schools across England and Scotland. This is an expansion on work that many member firms already do to support local school students with meaningful employability and careers opportunities. The training for teachers aims to improve racial literacy to create better outcomes for Black students.
From 27 November, Linklaters Partner, Andy Vickery and Clifford Chance Partner, Simeon Radcliff will become the new chairs of Legal CORE, taking over from Slaughter and May Managing Partner, Deborah Finkler and Norton Rose Fulbright Chair of Europe, Middle East and Asia, Farmida Bi. At a practitioner level, Steering Group Co-Chairs Uzma Hamid-Dizier, Director of Responsible Business at Slaughter and May and Joanna Harris, Head of Responsible Business and Wellbeing, EMEA at Norton Rose Fulbright will hand their roles over to Louisa Awolaja, Senior Manager Global Race Strategy at Linklaters and Nina Goswami, Head of Inclusion UK at Clifford Chance.
Uzma Hamid-Dizier, Former Steering Group Co-Chair, Legal CORE and Director of Responsible Business, Slaughter and May said: “When I set up Legal CORE I was convinced that if law firms came together to find collective solutions to the collective challenges we were facing around the underrepresentation of ethnic minority talent in the legal sector, we would make significant impact. Over the past three years, valuable connections have been made, best practice shared, and new ideas generated. We have garnered tangible results and the number of ethnic minority partners across the eight founding firms has increased since Legal CORE’s inception. This is down to the commitment within each of these firms to progress the best talent, regardless of background. It is important that we continue to build on this momentum so that the whole sector benefits from this change.”
Legal CORE Think Tank and anniversary event
To celebrate the second anniversary of Legal CORE, we held the second Legal CORE (Collaboration on Race and Ethnicity) Think Tank 2023 for member firms. The Think Tank is an opportunity for firms to come together and seek to make progress collectively. It provides a platform to raise awareness of challenges, spark insightful discussion, and share collaborative best practice ideas. For individuals, the Think Tank provides an opportunity to be part of changing the legal industry for the better.
The interactive in-person session in November built upon on the themes uncovered first Think Tank (see below) focused on retention of ethnic minority talent in law firms, this time focusing on the role of managers and supervisors. The aim was to explore how firms can support managers and supervisors in creating inclusive environments in which diverse teams can thrive. Focusing on a key question:
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How might firms support people managers and supervisors in creating inclusive environments in which diverse teams can thrive?
By sharing the outcomes of the Think Tank, we can reflect on the current cultures of our firms and the experiences of those from racial and ethnic minorities. In addition, it enables us – and hopefully others we are connected to outside the Legal CORE network – to review current programmes, practices and processes to identify where we can do better.
We recognise the challenges in creating a culture that is truly inclusive for underrepresented individuals and the need for change. This event was the second of what we hope will be an annual series of Think Tanks to encourage and create a space for open conversations which will lead to actionable suggestions that drive progress.
To read the full report, click here.
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Law firms join forces to boost prospects for Black students
In a ground-breaking initiative, 21 law firms have collaborated to fund training in over 60 schools across England and Scotland that aims to combat unconscious bias and the impact this has on Black students.
The initiative is a partnership between cross-firm collective Legal CORE, which aims to tackle ethnic minority underrepresentation in the legal sector, and diversity specialists Rare. It will enable teachers, school staff and governors to access the Hemisphere Education training programme over a three-year period.
Created by Rare, Hemisphere Education uses data, research and real-life examples from students to provide users with a toolkit to understand, safeguard and enhance the prospects of Black children and young people in nurseries and primary and secondary schools. The training has been developed and based on extensive research and evidence of bias in UK schools and the effect this bias has on outcomes for Black children.
The programme will be rolled out to schools taking part in the initiative from January 2024. This announcement comes at the two-year anniversary of Legal CORE, established to jointly tackle the challenges law firms face in increasing ethnic minority retention and progression in the sector. The collective now has over 40 members.
Uzma Hamid-Dizier, Steering Group Co-Chair, Legal CORE and Director of Responsible Business at Slaughter and May explains: “Many of our member firms already support local schools to provide meaningful employability and careers opportunities for students. Through this collaboration, we hope to help tackle inequality where it begins, and address the fact that our education system adds less value for Black children than any other ethnic group. This is a long-term and measurable intervention that will benefit thousands of children and help build a diverse future talent pipeline for the legal sector.”
Marisa Leaf, Hemisphere Education Founder, Rare comments: “This training is a first for the education sector, and it works: 85% of teachers say Hemisphere has helped them understand Black children’s school experience better, and 90% commit to changing their practice. Our partnership with Legal CORE demonstrates the dedication of these firms to create an impact on race beyond their own workforce. I hope that other employers will be inspired to do the same.”
Michael McKenzie, Headteacher, Alexandra Park School says: “The training is impactful because it is relevant to what we do as educators and gives rise to a truly reflective individual response raising awareness of unconscious bias and initiating specific action to counter it. This collaboration will positively impact on both student outcomes and staff through setting a precedent for successful educational practices that prioritise diversity, equality, and inclusion.”
Louise Zekaria, Legal CORE Member Representative and Director of Inclusion and CSR at Macfarlanes: “In its scale and its focus, this is a first-of-its-kind outreach collaboration between law firms. The initiative is designed to support Black children during key formative years by helping them to have a more positive school experience. Law firms across the board want to expand their talent pipelines by ensuring equal access and opportunity. This collaboration will amplify the work of each individual law firm involved.”
Firms funding the Hemisphere Education initiative:
Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Baker McKenzie, Bird & Bird, Clifford Chance, Farrer & Co, Fladgate, Freshfields, Goodwin, Gowling WLG, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons, Sharpe Pritchard, Slaughter and May, Stephenson Harwood, Reed Smith and Travers Smith.
About Legal CORE
Established in 2021, Legal CORE (Collaboration on Race and Ethnicity) is a leadership-led, cross-firm collective aimed at tackling the underrepresentation of ethnic minority groups in the UK legal sector. The eight founding firms – Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Norton Rose Fulbright and Slaughter and May – came together to promote and amplify diversity and inclusion in the sector and jointly tackle the challenges they face in increasing representation.
The focus of the collective is to substantively increase the representation of ethnic minority individuals in private practice. By working collectively to drive action Legal CORE aims to have a more substantial and sustainable impact than by acting as individual firms.
About Rare
Rare is a multi-award-winning diversity company. We do two things. One: we connect exceptional people from diverse backgrounds with world class careers in top organisations. Two: we provide cutting-edge data services that help our clients make better decisions.
Hemisphere Education is our digital anti-bias training for schools, grounded in extensive original research and evidence of bias in UK schools. Developed with experts in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and sociology, it distils our 18 years’ expertise, ten original research reports and hundreds of thousands of data points into easily digested insights on bias in education to improve outcomes for children nationwide.
www.rarerecruitment.co.uk
Legal CORE Think Tank
We held our first Think Tank earlier this year. Organised by members of our Legal CORE (Collaboration on Race and Ethnicity) steering group, this took the form of a half-day ‘hackathon’-style event that brought together individuals from across a number of firms in the legal sector to answer the challenge question: “How can law firms improve the retention of ethnic minorities within their respective firms and across the legal sector?”.
The aim was to identify factors that cause racial and ethnic minorities to leave law firms, and for participants to provide initial thoughts on actions and programmes we could develop and ultimately implement in our firms. We also hoped to create a forum for sharing experiences and exchanging ideas amongst those who work within the sector.
By sharing the outcomes of the Think Tank, we can reflect on the current culture of our firms and the experiences of those from racial and ethnic minorities. In addition, it enables us – and hopefully others – to review current programmes, practices and processes, and identify where we can do better.
We recognise the challenges in creating a culture that is truly inclusive for underrepresented individuals, and the need for change. We hope this is the first in a series of Think Tanks encouraging open conversations – and to ultimately translate dialogue into actionable suggestions that drive progress.
To read the full report, click here.