The sessions from Diverse Law LIVE, first broadcast on 28th July 2020, are now available on-demand.
Discover practical strategies and case studies to increase diversity and inclusion in the workforce
As the UK’s demographics continue to shift, so does your client base, so diversity is vital for law firms looking to meet clients’ needs and recruit the best talent.
The sector’s diversity profile is changing, although much more needs to be done to ensure that diverse talent is appropriately represented at partner level. Women account for nearly half of all solicitors, but they represent less than one third of partners. 12 percent are from a BAME background but make up just 6 percent of partners, according to Law Society figures.
As well as meeting your legal and regulatory equality duties, diversity and inclusion is important for many other reasons. From increasing your pool of potential candidates and increasing staff retention, to benefiting from the different perspectives and approaches that a diverse workforce brings, diversity and inclusion has a significant impact on business success, financial performance, innovation and client satisfaction.
In addition, corporate clients are increasingly focused on ensuring that their panel law firms align with their values and commitment to equality and diversity. Many are asking firms to submit details of their workforce diversity statistics, and even of your diversity initiatives in some cases.
To really make a positive change in the legal sector, every law firm – large and small – will need to review and respond to the challenges and opportunities. It is crucial that firms’ progress in this area does not stop at simply changing policies and procedures; culture change and the commitment to diversity and inclusion must be championed from the top down in order to be embedded in the organisation.
Improving diversity is essential for increasing productivity and innovation, which in turn contributes to better business performance and growth.
At Diverse Law LIVE, discover how to:
- Enhance business resilience and performance with increased diversity
- Attract and retain a higher percentage of diverse talent
- Build an outreach program to encourage young people into the sector
- Address unconscious bias in the hiring process
- Increase diversity and inclusion in practice within every element of the employee lifecycle
- Improve your benefits and policies to make them truly inclusive
- Instill a mentoring culture within your company
