The Diversity in Law project, led by co-founders Tarisai Chidawanyika and Sylvia Julius, has recently run three virtual events with corporate firms, with another one coming up in December.

The core strategy of the diversity initiatives is to show that these law firms are now taking positive actions required to change the organisational culture and create a truly inclusive and diverse legal workforce for the future.

On 20 October a one-hour session at McCann FitzGerald examined their application process and the culture of the firm.

The session was organised by partner Audrey Byrne and led by partner Tom Dane, graduate manager Dianne Hennessy and trainee Aishwarya Jha.

At Arthur Cox, on 22 October, a one-hour session on their application process was led by Eimear Power.

And on 29 October, Matheson hosted a 30-minute session on their diversity initiatives, followed by a Q&A on their application process.

Recruitment team

That session was led by the graduate recruitment team of Carmel Mellet and Siofra McCann, and diversity and inclusion lead Niall Crowley.

A total of 70 students attended the sessions across the three dates. 

A&L Goodbody will be hosting Diversity in Law during the first week of December.

The session will be led by Lisa Doyle, graduate talent executive, and solicitor Heidi Tan.

They will go through the ALG recruitment process, explain the firm’s D&I developments, and share top tips from employees within the firm on how to showcase one’s diversity on the application form.

Mantle of change

“This will hopefully serve as a call to other law firms and other legal services providers to take up the mantle of change,” said Tarisai Chidawanyika. 

“Now is the moment of opportunity to create sustainable and meaningful change for our profession,” she said.