Eversheds heads effort to increase diversity
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Eversheds has teamed up with City rivals and three recruitment firms to tackle the issue of diversity in legal recruitment.
Caroline Wilson
The initiative, spearheaded by Eversheds, will see 11 firms work with recruiters First Counsel, Taylor Root and Shilton Sharpe Quarry to gather diversity statistics so as to monitor access to the UK legal market.
This comes a year after the firm sparked a row with recruiters over who is to blame for the lack of diversity in the legal profession (The Lawyer, 9 June 2008).
As part of the joint project recruiters will ask candidates to complete a standard questionnaire relating to diversity data when registering. The information provided will then be collated and used by law firms as they seek to promote diversity.
Eversheds head of diversity and corporate responsibility Caroline Wilson said: “It’s easy to pay lip service to the importance of diversity. We wanted to take action and work with other firms because it’s crucial to the whole legal market.”
Wilson added that the information gathered would be a valuable tool for firms and recruiters in the future, with the data provided painting a clearer picture of the range of people seeking careers in law.
“It will take some time before sufficient data has been collected to be analysed and be useful for firms,” added Wilson. “But this is a long-term project that will benefit the legal market as a whole.”
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Readers' comments (13)
Brian | 10-Sep-2009 0:38 am
"Brian, how do you arrive at the conclusion that blacks and others who come from underprivileged backgrounds wont feel at home in a city firm? It is this stereotypical attitude by city firms that underprivileged background means you are not good enough for city which needs change. I feel insulted when people have opinions about people they have never given a chance."
Please, stop being so chippy. In life, people usually get on better with people from their own backgrounds. It's just the way life works. Most City lawyers would feel totally out of place on a builders' site chatting with construction workers.
They come from different worlds, have different lingo, different senses of humour etc.
Some people have brilliant social skills and can get on with people, whatever their backgrounds. Those people will succeed at a City firm regardless of their backgrounds.
On the other hand, some working class people simply do not have the right skills to mingle with upper-class financiers for example.
Sorry, it works both ways. As much as you may say I'm a despicable individual, I can't tell you the number of times I've been in a working class pub and had a comment made about my "posh" accent.
Deal with it.
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Kathy | 10-Sep-2009 1:55 pm
Brian,
As it turns out, I agree with you. As I mentioned, I am a minority with a 'posh' background. Years ago, I was in-house counsel for a large company. I literally had more formal education than anyone in the company. Moreover, they were so low class, I could not tolerate the situation. Their crass jokes, their lack of culture, their low level vocabulary and poor hygiene made me cringe. They assumed because I was a minority that I was at their level. They said I did not belong there. Finally, their jealousy and group mentality traumatised me.
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Anonymous | 13-Sep-2009 9:54 am
Glad to see the old buffers have seen sense at last. When i was interviewed there for a senior solicitor post in 1990 I was asked if I was "a practising homosexual". I replied I was and the interview was terminated very soon after. The recuitment agent responded with "you were too candid about your personal life!" I replied by saying that is imperative that a practising solictor is honest in all his dealings. cell a vie
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