Black group elects first woman leader

EVERSHEDS solicitor Audrey Dorival has become the first woman to head a black and Asian legal body after being named chair of the African, Caribbean and Asian Lawyers' Group (ACA).

Dorival, a commercial litigator at the firm's London office, takes over the post from Lovell White Durrant's Dele Ogun.

A graduate of Thames Valley University, Dorival studied for an LLM master's degree at the LSE and qualified as a solicitor in 1991.

She is hoping to build on the work carried out by the ACA in the past year, "improving the position of ethnic minority students within the profession".

"The ACA is an important group because a number of our students don't come from backgrounds which are law related," says Dorival. "As members who have succeeded within the profession, we can therefore offer those students the benefit of our experience and practical advice and assistance with their career development."