“I am a British Asian female trainee solicitor and the first person in my immediate family to attend university. I have always felt that diversity is important, as it has helped me to overcome language and cultural barriers and become confident in understanding people from all walks of life. In a general sense, diversity and inclusion are important, because awareness of each ensures that a profession, such as the legal one, disregards social stereotypes and offers equal opportunities for every candidate to succeed.
Diversity is an integral part for the legal profession’s future – I believe that encouraging diversity in a firm creates an inclusive, happy and energetic environment. From a commercial angle, diversity is essential in driving productivity and achieving better results, but also to demonstrate to potential clients that the lawyers of a firm reflect the diversity seen within modern society. It is often a requirement of large corporate clients that their law firms present legal teams who are diverse in nature and it is no surprise as to why – diversity demonstrates individuals’ differences and strengths. It is precisely this that helps firms to strategies and present new and innovative ideas and perspectives.
AS helped me secure a training contract, by offering one to one coaching, application assistance and the opportunity to participate in the 2015/16 Commercial Awareness Competition. My team and I won this competition, which led to vacation scheme opportunities and a chance to widen my professional network.”
Roxanna Sarkar-Patel, Trainee Solicitor at Mayer Brown
“We believe our ability to remain a world-class, international law firm depends on how well we attract and retain the best talent. To achieve our goal we focus on building an ever-more diverse and inclusive work environment. We recruit, develop and promote the highest calibre lawyers and staff, and are committed to providing them with opportunities to realise their potential regardless of background. Inclusion begins with opportunity and we continually seek innovative and effective ways to increase the number of diverse students that we attract and recruit. By engaging schools, colleges and universities directly, and by collaborating with organisations focused on widening access to the profession, Mayer Brown offers programmes that enable students to kick-start their career, whatever their background or circumstance.”
Danielle White, Graduate Recruitment Manager at Mayer Brown
