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23 September 2020 / Chris Bushell
Issue: 7903 / Categories: Opinion , Equality
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Diversity & inclusion: work in progress

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Chris Bushell, President of the LSLA, sees diversity & inclusion as a key priority for the legal profession. But there’s still work to be done

In my first speech as President of the LSLA, back in March, I said that diversity and inclusion needs to be a key priority for our profession. Since giving that speech, the SRA has published updated data on diversity and inclusion, COVID-19 has forced us to embrace agile working and, most significantly of all, we have seen the tragic killing of George Floyd, the shooting of Jacob Blake and a renewed, global awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. While sadly not new news, it has been a stark reminder that we need to do more than just improve ethnicity statistics in the workplace. We need to take ownership and action around systemic racism, from which no country or profession is exempt.

We need to have a diverse and inclusive profession. That ought not to be a controversial statement. Our firms will be better places

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Cripps—Radius Law

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Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
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A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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