Ethnic Diversity in the Legal Profession - How to Improve Recruitment & Retention

Introduction

Despite longstanding legislation against racial discrimination and a plethora of initiatives adopted by the legal sector, recruitment and retention of minority ethnic lawyers is a recurrent issue.

The latest research shows that the level of attrition of predominantly black lawyers continues to be higher than that of their white counterparts, and the number of black partners across top firms only accounts for 1%. We must question why this is and move the dial forward on increasing and retaining diverse talent.

Aimed at senior management teams, lawyers and HR professionals with an interest in and responsibility for diversity & inclusion, this virtual classroom seminar will review the statistics over the last 10 years and consider why more progress has not been made. It will also consider whether the regulators need to consider more affirmative action against firms who fail to address disparity in this area.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• Diversity statistics in the profession over the last 10 years
• Key cases/headlines citing racial discrimination in the legal profession
• An analysis of the some of the research demonstrating barriers to the profession for ethnic minorities
• Current affairs and the response of firms e.g., the death of George Floyd
• Ethnicity pay gap reporting - should it become mandatory?
• What are firms/in-house/organisations doing to tackle the identified barriers?
• Issues that ethnic minority people face at work and what organisations can do to tackle them
• Diversity in recruitment - tips and benefits of a diverse workforce
• Tips on navigating the profession

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.