UK law firm collective increases ethnic minority partner representation

The number of ethnic minority partners at the eight firms that established the UK’s first cross-firm collective aimed at tackling racial underrepresentation in the legal sector has increased since the collective’s inception.

This news marks the three-year anniversary of Legal CORE (Collaboration on Race and Ethnicity) launched in 2021 by founding firms A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Norton Rose Fulbright and Slaughter and May.

Since its inception Legal CORE has grown to 44 law firm members, all focused on the retention and progression of ethnic minority talent. Half of these members now publish ethnicity targets to further drive their commitments to tackle underrepresentation including associate, trainee and business services populations.

Over the last three years, Legal CORE has driven collective action and engaged with hundreds of individuals across the legal sector through various events and forums. This includes:

• a series of leadership events to encourage frank and open peer-to-peer dialogue;
• five best practice forums run for Diversity and Inclusion practitioners on topics such as ‘Effective reverse mentoring’; and
• interactive Think Tanks to provide an opportunity to for grassroots engagement with supervisors and managers to crowdsource solutions to D&I challenges.

Outside of the legal sector the collective has partnered with Rare Recruitment by funding its Hemisphere Education training programme in over 60 schools across England and Scotland. This is an expansion on work that many member firms already do to support local school students with meaningful employability and careers opportunities. The training for teachers aims to improve racial literacy to create better outcomes for Black students.

Alison Brown, executive partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, comments: "Progress is being made, but now is not the time for the legal industry to rest on its laurels. Our firm's 10 Actions for Change demonstrate a commitment to continued improvement, so it is encouraging to see that collaborative efforts and partnerships are having a positive impact across the industry as a whole.

"Understanding each other's experiences is key to our commitment to fostering an inclusive culture in our firm and across the industry. It is through partnerships such as this that law firms can work together to ensure everyone who is interested in joining the legal profession has better access to the sector."

From November 2024 existing chair firms Slaughter and May an Norton Rose Fulbright will pass on leadership to Clifford Chance and Linklaters. For more information or to become a Legal CORE member you can visit the Legal CORE website.