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Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Bristol Law Society is committed to engaging with and support ED&I initiatives within Bristol and the legal profession

About Bristol Law Society and our ED&I Committee & Initiatives

In February 2019, Bristol Law Society became a signatory to the Bristol Equality Charter, a city-wide initiative co-designed by private, public, and voluntary sector organisations, committed to improving equality of opportunity for everyone in Bristol and to eliminating discrimination in all its forms.

Later that month under the Presidency of Nick Lee, (our first dual-heritage President), an informal group was convened to discuss Diversity Initiatives and from that the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) committee was born which is now co-chaired by Coralie McKeivor, the current Honorary Secretary of BLS, Managing Associate at Freeths LLP and the Chair of the Women’s Lawyer Division in Bristol and also Salma Maqsood, BLS Council Member, Partner at Barcan+Kirby and The Law Society Social Mobility Ambassador.

Through the ED&I committee, Bristol Law Society hosts a programme of ED&I focussed events for members and works with local firms and other organisations on initiatives to support women lawyers, LGBT+ lawyers, disabled lawyers and ethnic minority lawyers as well as supporting initiatives relating to social mobility and mental health & wellbeing in the workplace.

 

ED&I Support for Member Firms

As part of the Bristol Law Society commitment to our Corporate Members we run a number of initiatives that complement our ED&I work:

Managing Partner and Senior Leader Online Meetings

We facilitate bi-monthly meetings for the Managing Partners and Senior Leaders of our member firms. Each month we have a different guest speaker who talks to the partners on important topics relevant for the modern law firm – many of which include a diversity and inclusion aspect.

Employee Network Leads (and future network leads) Networking Series

We facilitate quarterly meetings for Corporate Members Firms with Employee Networks (or who are thinking of setting up an employee network). These meetings are open to network leads and ED&I professionals within our member firms.

Other Support

If you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss how Bristol Law Society can help you with your ED&I strategy, please email info@bristollawsociety.com.