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NLJ this week: Obstacles hampering progress for talented lawyers

05 May 2023
Issue: 8023 / Categories: Legal News , Diversity , Profession , Career focus
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Senior litigation lawyer Pauline Campbell, writing in this week’s NLJ, sets out some of her personal experience of diversity and access after 17 years in the legal profession. 

Law firms say they want to attract talented candidates, and are taking action on diversity and social mobility, yet progress is slow. Why? Are perceptions standing in the way of progress? What must change?

Campbell, now an award-winning solicitor at the London Borough of Waltham Forest, encountered a series of obstacles en route. She notes law firms are continuing to miss out ‘on talent and profit’ by not taking on graduates from non-professional family backgrounds who attended state schools.

As Campbell writes, ‘barriers are not limited to mere practices and procedures, and also encompass the perceptions of those who work within a profession’. 

Read more from Campbell on talent and progression here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
County court cases are speeding up, with the median time from claim to hearing 62 weeks for fast, intermediate and multi-track claims—5.4 weeks faster than last year

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured £1.1m in its first use of an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO)

The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
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