Be proud of who you are
I am Chris
Founder and Former Corporate Lawyer | Aspiring Solicitors
I am proud to be the founder of Aspiring Solicitors
I
have always believed in equality, diversity and equal opportunities (being state school educated, a first generation lawyer and graduate, having attended a non-Russell Group university and having a regional (Essex) accent). The moment I secured my training contract with a US law firm in 2007, I began helping people to do the same and I have assisted aspiring solicitors from a variety of “underrepresented” groups. The Aspiring Solicitors’ aim is to increase diversity in the legal profession and we are achieving this through three main objectives. Firstly, we provide free access, opportunity and assistance to Aspiring Solicitors’ members from all underrepresented groups in the legal profession (including aspiring solicitors who are black and minority ethnic, disabled, from low income families, state school educated, first generation undergraduates, first generation lawyers, non-Russell Group students, people with accents (regional and international) and those who are mature applicants or career changers) to enter the legal profession.
Secondly, we seek to educate and inform the next generation of the legal profession about the importance of diversity. We do so by visiting a significant number of universities and offering talks and seminars as well as information via the various Aspiring Solicitors’ platforms. Finally, we are promoting and encouraging diversity from within the legal profession. We have a huge team of legal professional ambassadors from a range of law firms who have profiles on the website to assist our members with their journey. We also offer our members weekly phone calls to discuss any element of the application process (including CVs, cover letters, application forms, assessment days and interviews). We are proud to offer our members legal opportunities with over 25 law firms, 2 global banks and a number of other legal teams within corporations. We have become the largest dedicated legal diversity platform in the UK and were recognised as the “Diversity Initiative Of The Year” within the first 10 months of launching at the British Legal Awards. We would like you to join us in our commitment to increase diversity in the legal profession and look forward to helping you going forward. Together.
I am James
Future Trainee and Professional Ambassador | Clyde & Co
I am proud, gay, dyslexic, state school educated and a Professional Ambassador
A
t first glance, I look a lot like your typical City lawyer - and in many ways I am. I enjoy the benefits of having attended a selective sixth form, having a degree from the University of Oxford, and, even more simply, being an accentless white male. However, diversity encompasses far more than what is clear upon first seeing and speaking to someone. People like me can easily avoid many barriers that others (who can’t hide the fact that they are a woman, non-White, or have a noticeable disability) cannot. Much to our advantage, we can pretend that we fit the norm. This is unhealthy and wrong. While it might be easier for us to get training contracts and pupillages by hiding information, it is often unsustainable throughout our careers. Obscuring disabilities, which are not adequately accommodated,
risk making us look like underperformers and prevent promotion. Similarly, hiding your personal life from colleagues can lead to depression, anxiety and, ultimately, poor productivity – thus holding us back. It is also down to us to use our position of relative privilege to create a culture of inclusiveness and open-mindedness in our work places. To not do so would be akin to pulling up the ladder behind us. It is for this reason that Aspiring Solicitors supports diversity in all its manifestations and works towards ensuring that the legal profession is open to all and at all stages from sitting the LSAT to joining a partnership. I very much look forward to meeting you now or in the future when I have commenced my training contract with Clyde & Co. I hope you will join us.
I am proud, state school educated and went to a non-Russell Group University
I
am very excited to have recently secured a training contract with King & Wood Mallesons LLP to commence in September 2017. I signed up to Aspiring Solicitors in 2014 prior to applying for vacation schemes, having been drawn in by the networking events organised by Aspiring Solicitors in partnership with top City firms. Aspiring Solicitors helped me get a well rounded view of the legal profession. I attended events at various law firms that enabled me to learn more about practising law in the City and get a feel for the cultures of different firms. I also learned more about how application forms should be drafted and where I can best demonstrate my skills and experiences. After I secured a number of interviews for vacation schemes, Aspiring Solicitors helped me connect with Professional Ambassadors who were willing to discuss their firms and share their advice for success.
I attended a state school and non-Russell Group university. I am also the first in my family to become a lawyer so I was not surrounded by information about the profession. However, I ensured my achievements at both were highlighted on my application form. The interviewers at King & Wood Mallesons were very interested in my skills and positions of responsibility, as well as me as a person. The open day and graduate information evening also enabled me to visit the firm and speak to current trainees and graduate recruiters. The enthusiasm of the trainees about their work made me want to apply, as did the open culture and their encouragement of individuals to realise their full potential.
I am Stephanie
Future Trainee and Professional Ambassador | King & Wood Mallesons
I am Adeola
Trainee and Professional Ambassador | Travers Smith
I am proud, British Nigerian, state school educated and a Professional Ambassador
D
iversity has always played a big part in my life. I was born and raised in the UK but my immediate family is from Nigeria and my extended family can be found in countries all around the world. Growing up in such a rich culture and a cosmopolitan city such as London, has allowed me to appreciate the positive aspects of living in a globalised world. I studied Law with a year abroad at the University of Warwick and was fortunate to secure a training contract in my penultimate year with Travers Smith. After completing an internship in the multicultural city of Rotterdam (the Netherlands) with the Legal Counsel of a Fortune 500 company, I knew that I wanted to work in a law firm that provided high quality work and with an attitude that encouraged and promoted diversity and I have experienced that as a Trainee Solicitor at Travers Smith.
I strongly believe that your background should not limit your goals and aspirations and that diversity is crucial to the success of a workplace. While applying for training contracts, I saw that students who didn’t have key contacts within the legal profession or that didn’t attend the ‘right schools’ felt left behind in what was already a ferociously competitive environment. Aspiring Solicitors aims to empower students from underrepresented groups by giving them access to support, encouragement and a network of solicitors to learn from. I am proud to contribute as a Professional Ambassador.
I am proud 0f my diversity and to be a Professional Ambassador
D
iversity is critically important as it allows greater and varied viewpoints to be shared across all levels - people from different backgrounds, cultures and races all have important contributions to make whether in a professional, commercial or personal environment. It is important to encourage diversity as it emboldens decision making and brings credibility to leadership. Given the global environment in which we operate, it is imperative that we continue promoting the importance of diversity.
Being a Professional Ambassador for Aspiring Solicitors means I am able to directly assist and support individuals who, for a variety of reasons, may not have had the same opportunities as others but are equally as passionate about their career in law. I also feel it is important that potential candidates see we as a firm are committed to recruiting talented individuals who are right for us, despite gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social background, age or disability. Diversity should be encouraged at all levels and Aspiring Solicitors certainly provides a tremendous platform to support diverse individuals who have a passion to develop their professional legal careers. At Mayer Brown we understand that a diverse workforce at all levels of the firm is fundamental to our success. Recruiting the brightest and best is essential to service the needs of our global clients. We find solutions to business challenges and are able to service the needs of our international client base. Given the global environment in which we operate in, Mayer Brown is incredibly serious about ensuring that the importance of diversity is promoted across the firm.
I am Mayank
Partner and Professional Ambassador | Mayer Brown
I am Anjuli
Associate and Professional Ambassador | Baker & McKenzie
I am proud, Anglo-Indian and an international student from Zimbabwe
M
y ethnic and cultural diversity is a key part of my identity. I was born in Zimbabwe of Anglo-Indian descent, lived in Australia for seven years and studied in London and Paris. I joined Baker & McKenzie in 2011 as a trainee solicitor and qualified into the Firm’s Dispute Resolution practice in September 2013. My first contact with Baker & McKenzie was during my undergraduate degree, a joint LLB/ Maîtrise en Droit in English and French Law from King’s College, London and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris. My degree allowed me to train as a lawyer in either or both countries. With my international background, joining a firm with a strong global presence with access to cross-border work was important to me. It was also essential to me that I joined a firm where I could be authentically myself.
Baker & McKenzie’s staff are from a variety of ethnicities, making the environment not only diverse, but more interesting. I am proud to sit on the steering group of BakerEthnicity, one of Baker & McKenzie’s diversity focus groups, which aims at recruiting, developing and retaining BAME employees and creating a community for staff of diverse heritage. Having experienced the challenges of integrating into a different culture, adjusting to a new working environment and making the transition from trainee to associate, I am particularly passionate about the career development of junior BAME lawyers. I feel richer for embracing my ethnic diversity and I am proud to be a Professional Ambassador for Aspiring Solicitors.
I am proud, black, state school educated and went to a non-Russell Group University
C
oming from an ethnic minority background often means that many of us feel disadvantaged in comparison to others. For me, it made my journey into commercial law a very daunting experience. I felt unequipped and apprehensive about my skills and experience, despite the fact I met most of the entry requirements for a career in law. After attending White & Case’s spring vacation scheme, I was fortunate enough to be offered a training contract starting in September 2017.
Being a member of Aspiring Solicitors gave me a range of opportunities that enabled me to develop a firm understanding of the legal sector. The legal workshops were a fantastic platform for trials and errors and it was a chance for me to try out new answers and techniques regarding Training Contract applications and interviews. It enabled me to identify and to understand my unique strengths, which was a necessity when it came to representing myself and my experiences in the best possible manner in my interview with White & Case. For me, being part of Aspiring Solicitors was about discovering how I fitted in to the legal sector.
I am Ghislaino
Future Trainee and Professional Ambassador | White & Case
Aspiring Solicitors is proud of all of the organisations we work with and those who helped create this publication
Clyde & Co We view diversity as critical to the international nature of our business. We are committed to ensuring that our workforce represents a wide range of backgrounds, ages and experiences and reflects the values of our global clients. A Global Diversity Committee oversees initiatives within the firm and current areas of focus include gender imbalance at senior levels, diversity on joining and a broader support programme to provide practical assistance to all staff known as “Family Matters”. The firm runs top talent and senior leadership programmes, to support individuals towards partnership. Within this are opportunities for female lawyers to discuss issues and challenges. The firm is keen to support applications from law students of all backgrounds and was one of the first firms to run a legal apprentice scheme in its Manchester and London offices. The firm’s pro bono legal clinics also support a diverse group of law student volunteers, giving them the opportunity to meet our solicitors and to gain insights in to an international, City firm.
King Wood & Mallesons King & Wood Mallesons is proud to partner with Aspiring Solicitors. We share the same vision, namely widening access and increasing diversity in the legal sector. We believe that working with Aspiring Solicitors will enable us to reach talent which we might not have otherwise had access to.
White & Case White & Case LLP is a truly global law firm with men and women of 93 nationalities who speak 79 different languages and with offices in 25 countries around the world. We provide counsel and representation in virtually every area of law that affects cross-border business.
Our people are our greatest asset. We are committed to recruiting and retaining the most talented individuals on the basis of their qualifications, skills and experience. We recruit our people and promote our opportunities regardless of an individual’s sex, marital or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, religion or belief, colour, race, ethnic origin, nationality, age, pregnancy or maternity, gender reassignment or disability.
Our diverse list of clients include companies, governments and financial institutions with complex and challenging issues. We are driven to recruit, develop and advance exceptional people of diverse backgrounds who will strengthen our business and our work across practices and regions. Our diversity not only enriches us collectively, but enables us to be an employer of choice for our lawyers and a law firm of choice for our clients worldwide. Diversity for us is not a choice – it is a professional imperative.
We consider diversity as having sound commercial, ethical and economic sense. We value all of our people and this is why we invest in their professional skills and encourage their personal development, with a view to unlocking their talent and achieving their full potential.
Our mission is to build upon our strength and create an environment where all who work are encouraged, assisted and inspired to reach their full potential regardless of their background and this is why working with Aspiring Solicitors is an obvious choice for us.
Travers Smith At Travers Smith, we understand that each one of us is different. We value and respect these individual differences, and not just in relation to gender, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation and faith, but also in terms of background, education, working style and family or care responsibilities.
Lexis Nexis LexisNexis is delighted to be a Founder Member of Aspiring Solicitors. We committed to supporting this organisation from the outset because of Chris White’s clear and genuine passion for increasing diversity and equality of opportunity in the legal profession.
We are convinced that treating individuals with the same attention, courtesy and respect is more than an issue of compliance with antidiscrimination legislation. A diverse workforce enhances the service we provide to our clients and results in a more stimulating and rewarding environment in which to work.
Many aspects of the Aspiring Solicitors programme match the work that LexisNexis has done over the years to help students e.g. peer to peer learning and pro bono support. LexisNexis is proud to work with Aspiring Solicitors to support and develop aspiring solicitors’ knowledge about the profession they want to enter and to help students make informed decisions about their careers.
We build professional teams from the best lawyers we can recruit and, in doing so, are committed to sourcing talent from the widest pool of people. By supporting the aim of Aspiring Solicitors to increase access to the legal profession from underrepresented groups, we will help to ensure that this pool is as wide and diverse as possible.
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As a global organization, LexisNexis values people of all ages, cultures, races, religions, nationalities and ethnicities regardless of gender or sexual orientation. We are committed to promoting a diverse workforce because we believe that diversity of people and ideas creates strength for our business and customers.
Baker & McKenzie Baker & McKenzie has a long history of diversity. As the original multi-national law firm, a culture of diversity and inclusion is in our DNA. From our earliest days, one of our key beliefs has been that a diverse work force is a better work force and a better work force enables us to better respond to the needs of our clients and the communities in which we work. We are committed to creating greater access to the legal profession to those from under represented communities. We are also committed to creating an environment where all of our people, regardless of background, are able to succeed and to be themselves at work. We are proud to have been recognised as Social Mobility Business Compact Champions and Contextual Recruitment Pioneers. We were among the very first firms to introduce gender targets and in 2015 we received the highest ranking ever received by a law firm in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index.
Become a member of Aspiring Solicitors aspiringsolicitors.co.uk
“ Committed to increasing diversity in the legal profession.�
To contact Aspiring Solicitors please visit www.aspiringsolicitors.co.uk or email info@aspiringsolicitors.co.uk