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International Edition

Social mobility - is law leading the way?

The latest Alan Milburn report on social mobility has produced a little backslapping in legal circles, primarily because of this judgment: "Professions are undertaking more activity in order to improve but results are mixed: law leads medicine, media, politics and finance." That judgment is based on the following:
8 minute read

International Edition

Stepping out – the City's gay lawyers on their experiences of coming out

"I came out as a trainee in a tough environment – in the 1980s during the AIDS and HIV crises," reflects Field Fisher Waterhouse managing partner Michael Chissick. "It was a challenge when it came to telling clients as I was concerned some clients and partners would be prejudiced." Three decades on, he still represents a relatively rare breed of openly gay senior lawyers, with many still reticent to be open about their sexual orientation. Although there are increasing numbers of gay lawyers and barristers who are role models for those coming up through the ranks, it seems a large majority still feel that the legal profession lags others in terms of being accepting of people's sexual orientation.
10 minute read

International Edition

Out and proud – why gay doesn't always mean happy at law firms

For most people, an office job means spending the majority of their waking hours sitting in one place surrounded by the same group of people. Undoubtedly, some of these people you would not have chosen to sit next to. Others you may get on with very well. Either way it has to be a hard choice to keep something as basic as your sexuality a secret from people you spend such a large proportion of your life with. Although the legal profession provides countless examples of impressive deal-doers and business leaders for up-and-coming lawyers to aspire to intellectually, it seems in some areas it lacks people to look up to on a personal basis. As our feature this week discusses, there is only a handful of openly gay solicitors and barristers in senior positions to act as role models for those coming up through the ranks. So it is in this vein that leading gay charity Stonewall and a group of senior partners and barristers are calling for more homosexual lawyers to step forward and talk about their experiences of coming out.
3 minute read

Legal Week

Out and proud – why gay doesn't always mean happy at law firms

For most people, an office job means spending the majority of their waking hours sitting in one place surrounded by the same group of people. Undoubtedly, some of these people you would not have chosen to sit next to. Others you may get on with very well. Either way it has to be a hard choice to keep something as basic as your sexuality a secret from people you spend such a large proportion of your life with. Although the legal profession provides countless examples of impressive deal-doers and business leaders for up-and-coming lawyers to aspire to intellectually, it seems in some areas it lacks people to look up to on a personal basis. As our feature this week discusses, there is only a handful of openly gay solicitors and barristers in senior positions to act as role models for those coming up through the ranks. So it is in this vein that leading gay charity Stonewall and a group of senior partners and barristers are calling for more homosexual lawyers to step forward and talk about their experiences of coming out.
6 minute read

International Edition

CMS awards four social mobility bursaries in second annual round

CMS Cameron McKenna (CMS) has awarded bursaries to four school-leavers in the second year of a competition designed to support aspiring lawyers from underprivileged backgrounds. The firm's annual bursary competition, which launched last year, provides bursaries worth £2,500 a year to Year 12 students to support their law degrees. Candidates are able to win bursaries if they in the first generation of their family to attend university, meet certain financial criteria and gain ABB grades or equivalent at A-level.
2 minute read

International Edition

Slaughters' White takes up non-exec position at diversity company

Former Slaughter and May executive partner Graham White has been appointed to the board of diversity recruitment company Rare. White will take up a non-executive position on Rare's board alongside four other non-executive directors including former Financial Times chairman David Bell and former Unisys general counsel and board member Sandra Teichman.
2 minute read

International Edition

HSF aims to boost female partner numbers with diversity initiative

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is set to roll out a firmwide diversity initiative aimed at boosting the number of female lawyers making partner at the firm. Over the past year, the firm has been working with Wanda Wallace, the CEO of US consultancy Leadership Forum, to develop five key programmes that will be rolled out across its international offices this month. Global M&A head Stephen Wilkinson and competition partner Susan Black have been taking lead roles in the initiative. Wallace has previously developed similar programmes for major bluechips including BP, Credit Suisse and Vodafone, but this is her first project with a law firm.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC joins diversity initiative targeting talent from state school backgrounds

Clifford Chance (CC) has joined a scheme that will see recruiters from top employers meet undergraduates from state school backgrounds, in a bid to improve access to City professions. CC is hosting a new milk round event, called the 'City Careers Conference', which will see graduate recruiters meet more than 150 undergraduates who previously studied at state schools in London's most disadvantaged boroughs.
2 minute read

International Edition

A longer road? New partners offer career advice to frustrated associates

The top 30 law firms made up fewer partners this year, while there was a worrying dip in the number of women promoted at the magic circle. James Boxell, Anna Reynolds and Alex Newman spoke to new partners to seek their advice for frustrated associates, both female and male...
9 minute read

International Edition

Mixed messages – what clients mean, and what law firms think they mean

What do clients want? As a lawyer, you are doing something wrong if you can't go a long way towards answering this question. But standing in a room full of senior City partners and general counsel debating the lack of diversity in the legal profession last week, it became apparent quite how nuanced the answer can be. The event – organised by Obelisk, a commercial venture aimed at getting senior City lawyers back into work, particularly after motherhood – looked to address the main issues hindering the rise of women to the top of leading law firms. For as much as the in-house community was quick to denigrate their less diverse private practice colleagues, law firm representatives countered that clients are doing little to help the situation: what clients say they want and what clients actually want are two different things.
3 minute read

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