The Lawyer
In 2022 Fred Banning, a professional services communications expert, founded Fifth Day, an organisation with a mission to promote professional pro bono work among business professionals within law firms. His personal experience of being diagnosed with terminal cancer led him to write in The Lawyer that “if I were to start again, I would do […]
The choice on offer for a lawyer wishing to work in Scotland is greater than ever before – but that leaves challenges for the firms themselves, as they fight harder to keep hold of their brightest talent.
In 2023, the Catalyst report “Women’s Workplace Experiences Challenges Antiracist Leaders to Step Up” surveyed 2,734 women from marginalised racial and ethnic groups worldwide, including 604 women from the UK. It revealed that 51% of women from marginalised backgrounds experience racism at work, with those of darker skin tones more affected. Notably, 49% of respondents felt senior […]
Growing up in one of the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods, the odds were stacked against me from the start. My journey to becoming a trainee solicitor at CMS has been anything but straightforward. As someone who is Black, dyslexic, and raised in an area within the top 10 per cent of the most deprived neighbourhoods […]
Entering the legal profession as a Black male had its challenges. I took the plunge and moved from my hometown to Manchester to study law at university in 2014. Initially, there were perceived barriers to my entry. People around me, who I respect, whether that be family or friends, told me that the industry “wasn’t […]
Baby loss is frighteningly common. According to the latest statistics available from Tommy’s, an estimated one in five pregnancies ends in miscarriage. However, if you are a black woman, the statistics are far worse. In 2021, The Lancet, working with Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, published a paper showing that black women had a […]
I’m convinced that adopting the newborn parenting mindset will make me a better, more productive, and happier, lawyer. Here’s how.
The pathway to qualification in the legal profession has changed substantially in the last few years. Much of this change is a result of deliberate reform of policy and criteria, such as the introduction of solicitor apprenticeships and the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) replacing the Legal Practice Course (LPC). The traditional route of obtaining a […]
For me, Pride Month is not just a celebration; it’s a testament to the enduring fight for equality and human rights. Reflecting on my own journey, from coming out at the age of 17 during the early days of the AIDS epidemic and feeling extremely isolated in my hometown in New Jersey to today leading […]
I feel very privileged to write this article having just been elected by my peers as vice president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA). That said, it is difficult not to suffer from imposter syndrome. As wonderful as this profession is, and as motivated and enthused as I am in my role as a […]
As a British, white, cisgender gay man in my 30s, I have grown up in an increasingly tolerant society where legal protections and rights have been afforded to me that were denied to people like me in the past. Significant victories over the past 20 years—legal (marriage equality, anti-discrimination legislation), health (better healthcare for HIV […]
Why can’t you be like everyone else? We’ll never be able to show our faces in the community again. You’ll never make it and, if you do, you’ll never succeed as a lawyer because of who you are. How are you ever going to be able to have a family? These were not only the […]