Prime Highlights:
- The Law Society of England and Wales has launched a new three-year strategy to improve equality, diversity, and inclusion in the legal profession.
- The strategy aims to increase diversity in senior leadership, support disabled solicitors, and create more inclusive workplace cultures.
Key Facts:
- Over 70 solicitors, from junior to senior levels, contributed to the strategy through interviews and focus groups.
- A report by the International Bar Association found that only 38 percent of women lawyers worldwide hold senior positions due to social, economic, and workplace barriers.
Background:
The Law Society of England and Wales has unveiled a new three-year equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategy aimed at addressing longstanding inequality in senior leadership and workplace culture, with a particular focus on supporting disabled solicitors. The announcement was made on Thursday, November 6, according to the Law Society Gazette.
The member-focused strategy sets out three main objectives: enhancing diversity in senior leadership roles, supporting solicitors with disabilities, and fostering more inclusive workplace environments. The initiative was developed over the course of a year, incorporating feedback from members across all levels of the legal profession.
Over 70 solicitors, ranging from aspiring and junior professionals to mid-career and senior leaders, contributed to the strategy. Participants came from law firms, in-house teams, and related organisations, and shared their views through interviews and focus groups.
Law Society President Mark Evans said that even with progress in equality and diversity, unfairness and bias still affect career paths in the legal profession. “Women, minority ethnic, LGBTQ+, and disabled solicitors face obstacles in reaching senior positions,” Evans said. “Disabled lawyers are still few in number, and many workplaces make it hard for people to work at their best.”
Evans emphasised the importance of collective effort in creating meaningful change. The Law Society will keep working to make the legal profession more inclusive, but it needs support from law firms, in-house teams, and lawyers at every level to make real change.
The strategy also looks at global concerns about gender and diversity in law. Last year’s report showed that less than four in ten women lawyers have senior positions, because of social, economic, and workplace obstacles.
The Law Society aims to create a legal profession where equality, diversity, and inclusion are key, and all solicitors can succeed, no matter their background or abilities.
