Firms team up for new effort to tackle lack of diversity on career track
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Hogan Lovells and Eversheds are among a line-up of eight City firms spearheading a new initiative to promote diversity and multiculturalism for all legal sector employees. NOTICED, which will be launched at the Law Society this Wednesday (20 March), will feature a series of events at which legal professionals from all backgrounds can network, debate diversity issues and share good practice, in an effort to make the legal industry more accessible and boost cultural awareness.
March 18, 2013 at 01:29 PM
3 minute read
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Hogan Lovells and Eversheds are among a line-up of eight City firms spearheading a new initiative to promote diversity and multiculturalism for all legal sector employees.
NOTICED, which will be launched at the Law Society this Wednesday (20 March), will feature a series of events at which legal professionals from all backgrounds can network, debate diversity issues and share good practice, in an effort to make the legal industry more accessible and boost cultural awareness.
Its events will be open to fee-earners and support staff from all legal firms and the Bar. The NOTICED acronym stands for 'Networking Opportunities to Integrate, Celebrate, and Educate on Diversity'.
Bhavesh Patel, HSF associate and co-chair of NOTICED, said the scheme should address a need not satisfied by existing law firm diversity initiatives. "We've found that there's a big focus on diversity at a recruitment level and providing support and mentors in the initial [employment] period, but there are limited organisations that focus on how diversity impacts a person's growth through their career in the legal sector," he said.
Patel added that NOTICED is not restricted to members of minority groups: "Even things like [having a different] accent can have a big impact on someone's perception of you, and how that's dealt with is not often discussed."
The eight founding member firms are Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, Baker & McKenzie, Eversheds, HSF, Hogan Lovells, Simmons & Simmons and Mayer Brown. "We are delighted to have eight member forms on board so quickly. If other firms want to come on board that would be fantastic – the more the merrier," said Patel.
In a joint statement with co-chair Rashida Abdulai,an associate at Hogan Lovells, Patel added: 'Individually, [the founding members] are all running active campaigns of communications and events, but for true change to occur we all need to work together to this end'.
NOTICED is the second legal diversity initiative to launch this month after DLA Piper introduced its 'Break into Law' scheme on 4 March. The global initiative aims to make it easier for currently underrepresented groups of young people to pursue legal careers by offering mentoring, work experience, CV and interview skills training and scholarships through its offices worldwide.
DLA Piper global co-chairman Tony Angel commented: "We have initiatives in offices around the world designed to help young people to break into the legal sector. Break into Law brings together the best of these to create a truly global initiative that plays to our collective strengths. With our operations across the world, we can create fantastic opportunities that will make a real difference to young peoples' lives."
Five of the NOTICED firms already belong to PRIME, a social diversity initiative established by 22 UK firms in 2011. Each has pledged to provide work experience places equal to at least half the number of training contracts it offers annually. Member has subsequently rise to more than 75, including participation from a number of major corporates including Yahoo!, Vodafone and Lloyds.
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