Supporting the BAME lawyers of tomorrow

Sarah Cooke Principal Associate Mills & Reeve LLP

We are therefore always interested to hear about and learn from initiatives not only within Cambridgeshire but also nationally where they could inspire similar initiatives to achieve greater equality, diversity and inclusion within Cambridgeshire.

Earlier this year, member firm Mills & Reeve, with an office on Hills Road in Cambridge and five other offices nationally, set up a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and Allies Network to support BAME staff, raise awareness of BAME issues and act as a platform for wider understanding and promotion of diversity and equality issues within the firm.

Mills & Reeve’s BAME and Allies Network identified a way in which they could help tackle a key barrier faced by BAME students: access to law as a profession. Working with Birmingham Black Lawyers, a networking group that supports students and junior staff and allows more established lawyers to share knowledge and experience, they set up the Mills & Reeve BAME Development Award to provide work experience, financial support and a mentor from the firm.

Applications were invited in the early part of this year, with Birmingham Black Lawyers working with Mills & Reeve on the application criteria, short-listing and final judging. The successful applicant was announced in June 2020 as first year law student Samira Ahmed from De Montfort University. Samira impressed the judging panel with her resilience, how she responded to life’s challenges and her determination to succeed as a lawyer.

Dawn Brathwaite, Mills & Reeve Partner and BAME and Allies Network Chair said: “This award is very important The Cambridgeshire Law Society fully supports The Law Society’s Ethnic Minority Lawyers Division (EMLD) in its aim “to empower black and minority ethnic (BAME) lawyers to overcome structural, procedural and attitudinal barriers within the profession”.

to us. We work hard to encourage and support students from underrepresented communities to qualify as lawyers. The standard of the applications was extremely high but Samira’s application stood out. We look forward to working with her over the next year.”

Natasha Broomfield-Reid, Diversity Inclusion & Wellbeing Manager at Mills & Reeve said: “As a firm we want to ensure that we are inclusive to everyone and that we identify and reduce barriers to entering the law profession. The work of the BAME and Allies network will support us to be more inclusive to BAME people as well as developing initiatives such as our BAME Development bursary and other initiatives.”

Nick FinlaysonBrown, Partner and head of Mills & Reeve’s Cambridge office commented: “Embracing diversity, inclusivity and equality must be part of our DNA in both the legal profession and the wider community and not something that we have to think about. We are committed to doing whatever we can to achieve these goals using new and innovative methods to support and promote these fundamental rights and look forward to seeing (and learning from) other initiatives across Cambridge and beyond, in the years to come.”

Does your firm have any similar BAME or other EDI initiatives that we can spotlight? If so, please let us know at admin@cambslaw.com as we would be excited to feature you in a future edition!