Elite law firms pledge equal opportunities for BAME junior lawyers
Some of the UK’s largest law firms have joined recruiters by signing a charter that aims to provide equal access to job opportunities within the legal sector.
Ashurst, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills, Slaughter and May, and Travers Smith are the five founding signatories of the Recruitment Agency Race Fairness Commitment, developed by diversity recruitment specialist Rare.
The charter has been designed to ensure that black, asian and minority ethnic (BAME) job seekers access the same professional opportunities to compete for legal roles as their white counterparts.
The five firms join more than 30 legal recruitment outfits including Taylor Root, Hydrogen, Michael Page and RedLaw, in addition to agencies that specialise in other business and financial sectors.
By signing, the firms commit to upholding a range of measures. These include ensuring that: candidate pools “at least match the UK ethnic diversity and aspire to the local population if greater”, and that shortlists and speculative introductions “at least match the ethnic diversity of the relevant market”.
Additionally, they also pledge to get more clarity in relation to the backgrounds of the candidates, particularly regarding their academic backgrounds and where they have developed their professional experience, and to take the time to explore the backgrounds and experiences of BAME candidates.
This latest commitment comes after 17 top law firms signed the Race Fairness Commitment, vowing to combat the career obstacles faced by BAME lawyers in July.
The commitment was signed by Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Clifford Chance, DWF, Dentons, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinsent Masons, RPC, Slaughter and May, Travers Smith, and White & Case.
Raphael Mokades, founder and managing director of Rare, said: “We’ve had an incredible response to our Race Fairness Commitment and it’s encouraging to see that firms want to go even further in the effort to increase black and ethnic minority representation in their ranks.
“While October was officially Black History Month, increasing diversity needs to be a focus year-round. Rare is proud to work with these five founding law firms — clients we already support with lateral recruitment and retention — to launch this call to action.”
According to a report published by Rare in March 2020, “ Closing the ethnicity stay gap”, British law firms still struggle to retain ethnic minority talent.
The study showed that while 30% to 50% of British trainees in many law firms come from minority ethnic backgrounds, these recruits spend on average 20% less time in post than their white counterparts.
Meanwhile, 84% of lawyers from minority ethnic backgrounds told Rare that they had experienced “ implicit racism” at the firms they had worked at.
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