Diversity & Inclusion
What can you do to help? Here are a few tangible, easy things: 1. Take the Harvard Implict Bias Test. It is free and easy to do. You might be surprised by the results. It will help you understand your own biases – an important first step. 2. Take the time to mentor junior solicitors. You will find it a rewarding experience and you will positively influence someone’s career. 3. If you are a client yourself, consider the requests you are making of legal service providers. Take a look at the Mindful Business Charter. 4. If your organisation publishes its gender pay gap annually – read the report, attend launch events and be prepared to answer questions on it from your colleagues. 5. If you are asked to take part in an all-male panel, note that you are honoured to be asked, but gracefully refuse. And tell the organiser why. 6. If you are involved in childcare – and are a leader of your
business – lead by example. Model the behaviour that you’d like to see. Similarly, if you are senior and work flexibly then model the positive behaviours you would like to see in others. 7. Be supportive of flexible working and visibly so. Call out your colleagues who are resistant to it. The recent switch to homeworking shows that many of us can work from home perfectly well, if given the support and resources to do so. 8. Do not accept bullying in any way, shape or form. Speak out against bullying and harassment and support others who speak out. Gender equality is not a zero-sum game. It isn’t women win and therefore men lose. Everyone is better off. Ultimately, equality exists for no one until it exists for everyone. We’ve made huge strides in the recent past. Let’s not allow that to slip. ■ Thanks to the Law Society of Scotland for permission to publish this article.
Carrie Morrison portrait C
arrie Morrison is famously the first ever female solicitor although she was admitted along with Mary Pickup, Mary Sykes, and Maud Crofts in 1922. The Law Society of England and Wales has honoured her by renaming one of the major public rooms, The Old BookStore, importantly ensuring that women are visible in its building’s history. Currently, there are portraits of Past Presidents although most date from the time when the President’s portrait was painted and it was then donated to The Law Society. LW would like to see an adjustment of the internal décor to reflect the modern profession which requires portraits, of an appropriate style although not necessarily paintings, of Presidents through the twentieth and twenty-first century. This will enable The Law Society to achieve the sense of inclusion it desires and needs, commendably initiated by Robert Bourns with the social mobility ambassadors’ portraits. A great start would be to use the portrait of Carrie Morrison currently being designed by Rocco Fezzari. The version shown gives a flavour of the style. ■
10 | LegalWomen
Carrie Morrison. Thanks to First 100 Years.
