December 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference is examining latest developments and the way forward for improving diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.
The discussion is bringing together stakeholders with key policy officials who are due to attend from the Attorney General's Office; the MoJ; the CPS; the Government Legal Department; DfT Legal Advisors; HMRC Solicitor's Office & Legal Services; the Judicial Office; Treasury Legal Advisers; the Law Commission of England and Wales; BEIS; Defra; DfE; DHSC; HMRC; HM Treasury; Home Office; MHCLG; the Ministry of Defence; UK Visas & Immigration; and The Scottish Government.
The agenda:
- Meeting regulatory requirements for diversity and inclusion
- Practical approaches to developing a diverse legal sector
- Improving workplace culture in legal services - mental wellbeing, workplace flexibility and support, and tackling harassment and misconduct
- Recruitment and progression - attracting new lawyers from diverse backgrounds, the impact of the SQE, and transitioning from law schools to the workplace
- Next steps for improving judicial diversity
The discussion at a glance:
- practical approaches to improving legal D&I:
- tackling barriers - best practice on how to identify issues that hinder progress
- recruitment - reviewing interview practice, undertaking unconscious bias training, implementing blind CVs, and sharing best practice in attracting talent and building inclusivity
- inequality data - improving collection across the profession, filling evidence gaps, and addressing inconsistencies
- targets - latest thinking on their use to improve diversity and inclusion in law firms
- workplace culture:
- sexual harassment and misconduct - discussing effective strategies for reduction and prevention, as well as best practice, and reforms to HR claims and the handling of cases
- flexible working - the impact of new arrangements a result of the pandemic on lawyers across the sector, following reports of increasingly loneliness and anxiety about health and job security, pressures to go into work, and instances of not being allowed to work from home
- wellbeing - including measures for addressing challenges to lawyers’ mental health being taken by firms
- legal education, recruitment and progression:
- the SQE:
- its potential impact on diversity and widening access to the profession and how it should be implemented, and attracting and developing talent
- why SQE pilots showed some candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds tending to perform worse than white counterparts, and the option of SQE assessors undergoing unconscious bias training
- direct recruitment - concerns that some top firms will continue recruiting directly from selective universities, undermining objectives to increase diversity in the profession through the SQE
- costs - how to address the issue in order to widen access to the legal sector
- progression - assessing opportunities for supporting and improving the transition from law school to the workplace
The background:
- the Bar Survey Summary Findings July 2020, suggesting:
- diversity and social mobility are likely to decline at the Bar without preventative measures in light of the pandemic
- particular impact on barristers who are female, members of ethnic minorities, or state-educated, who are more likely to be in publicly-funded work and be primary carers for young children
- the Race Fairness Commitment - signed by magic and silver circle firms to ensure junior lawyers from a minority ethnic background have access to job opportunities equal to their white counterparts, with the assurance that candidate pools match the UK’s ethnic diversity
- the Social Mobility Employer Index 2020 - from the Social Mobility Foundation, with a strong showing from the legal sector, though with disproportionate recruitment of Russell Group graduates
- Diversity at the Bar - the BSB recently publishing its Anti-Racist Statement listing actions to be taken by the regulator to improve diversity, such as introducing anti-racist training for barristers and undertaking a race equality audit to identify barriers to equality, after finding that ethnic minority barristers accounting for around 8% of the QC population
- ‘Partnership penalty’ of lower socio-economic background laid bare - Legal Futures reporting longer average time to reach partner-level for certain societal groups than for privately educated lawyers
- The State of Legal Services 2020 - one of the LSB’s recent reports indicating that:
- legal regulators are too slow in understanding and tackling ongoing inequalities in the profession
- a step-change is required to meet new expectations for diversity and creating inclusive cultures within the profession
- the challenges for starting and progressing in legal roles are heightened as a result of the pandemic
- Us Too? Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession - the International Bar Association’s findings in the global legal profession, with the majority of instances going unreported by victims
- the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter - currently under review
- Introduction of SQE: Monitoring and Maximising Diversity - SRA-commissioned, finding potential for the SQE to lead to greater equality data transparency but needing consistency and leadership
- Judicial diversity - the Government announcing measures to address under-representation in the judiciary, and the President of the Supreme Court calling for more diversity amongst Justices
Policy officials attending:
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders. Places have been reserved by parliamentary pass-holders from the House of Lords, and officials from the Attorney General's Office; BEIS; the Crown Prosecution Service; Defra; the Department for Transport Legal Advisors; the Department for Education; the Department of Health and Social Care; the Government Legal Department; HMRC Solicitor's Office & Legal Services; HMRC; HM Treasury; the Home Office; the Judicial Office; the Law Commission of England and Wales; the MHCLG; the Ministry of Defence; the Ministry of Justice; the Treasury Legal Advisers; UK Visas & Immigration; and The Scottish Government. Also due to attend are representatives from African Women Lawyers Association; Akin Gump; Anna Kaminska; Bristol City Council; Carpenters Group; Council for Licensed Conveyancers; Directorate of Legal Services (RAF); Discovery; General Dental Council; Howes Percival Solicitors; Hunters Law; Judicial Office; Kemp Little; Law Commission; Legal Standards Board; Lincoln's Inn; Magrath Sheldrick; Matrix Chambers; Michelmores; Mishcon de Reya; PPL; Shakespeare Martineau; Sharpe Pritchard; Slater and Gordon; Solicitors Regulation Authority; The Access Group; The Law Society; The University of Law; Totum Partners; University of East Anglia; University of Oxford; Watson Woodhouse Solicitors and White & Case.
Press passes have been reserved by representatives from Burlington Media Group; Financial Times and The Times.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
