Law Society black and Ethnic Minority Ethnic research report launch event

What does it feel like to be a black and Ethnic minority solicitor in today’s profession?

“Race for Inclusion: the experiences of black and Ethnic Minority solicitors” research report launch event – 9 December, 16.00-18.00pm


The Law Society will present its findings from quantitative and qualitative research it has conducted to better understand the experiences of black and Ethnic minority solicitors


You are invited to join the launch event and hear from the researchers who will share the key themes emerging from the research. We have also assembled a range of experts to dissect and discuss the findings and we are also keen to hear your views and insights. Based on recommendations from the report the Law Society will present its next steps and the formulation of a Race action plan to support members and provide practical support to firms

The link to book your place here.

Bristol Trustee Group: Employment Law – Tips and Trips

Please join the Bristol Trustee Group for the third in a series of webinars aimed at trustees or potential trustees of charities and community organisations.


This training session will take place on Tuesday 10 November 2020 between 1-2pm. The session will be led by Luke Menzies, employment lawyer and CEO at Menzies Law.

The session will cover:

  • Recent trends in employment law
  • Scaling up
  • Restructuring and redundancies
  • Common traps, fears, myths and stuck-ness

The session will provide an overview and flag up areas where you may benefit from specific professional support. There will be plenty of time for questions and general discussion following the presentation. Luke is happy to provide 20 minutes of free follow- up advance per charity/organisation in the week following the session, for those who wish to pursue any issues further.

Sign up here.

Pro Bono Week

The 19th Pro Bono Week takes place this week from 2 to 6 November 2020, recognising and supporting the voluntary contribution made by lawyers across the UK in giving free legal help to those in need.

The overarching theme of Pro Bono Week 2020 is “Pro bono: Through the pandemic and beyond“.

In Bristol we are celebrating Pro Bono with an event on 5th November.

You are invited to join the Bristol Pro Bono Group to mark Pro Bono Week 2020!

BBG is passionate about access to justice.We encourage lawyers to work with local universities and community groups to deliver pro bono advice to indivi

duals who don’t have access to legal advice. We also work collaboratively to identify not-for-profit organisations working in the public interest who need legal assistance.

Join us on 5 November (5pm – 6pm) to understand how our members are working together to increase engagement in pro bono projects in the South-West and to learn about how lawyers can really make a difference in their communities.

The session will include contributions from:

  • BPP
  • Bristol Law Centre
  • Osborne Clarke
  • Simmons & Simmons
  • TrustLaw
  • University of Law
  • University of the West of England

Sign up here.

edit: If you missed this event you can watch the recording here.

Fiona Woolf Lecture 2020 – The challenges of intersectionality – why are there so few black women lawyers in senior leadership roles in the legal profession and what can we do to change this?

This Law Society event is to celebrate the achievements of Dame Fiona Woolf and other inspirational women who have reached senior positions within the profession.

Learning outcomes

  • Understand more about the positive contribution made by women to the profession, and how diversity enhances organisations in the wider legal community
  • Learn the different routes to success based on the personal journeys of accomplished solicitors with similar experiences to you
  • Develop the skills to support and encourage self-confidence to make effective applications to access/progress within the profession

Speakers

  • I. Stephanie Boyce – Vice president, The Law Society
  • Ariel White Tsimikalis – Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
  • Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu – New York Attorney and Solicitor of England & Wales with broad expertise in the financial services industry, writer, public speaker and political commentator
  • Sharon Blackman – Managing Director & GC, Citi bank
  • Dame Fiona Woolf DBE 
  • Kellie Scott – Global Product head for Sales Finance within the Global Trade team at JP Morgan

Sign up to attend this virtual event on the Law Society Website.

LDD: Lessons learnt for Disability Inclusion

Legally Disabled?: The Career Experiences of Disabled People in the Legal Profession released earlier this year identified that the most requested, and refused, reasonable adjustment for disabled lawyers was remote or home working. 
 
The pandemic necessitated everyone working in this way and this has allowed new opportunities for disabled people, and the profession, to create and contribute to more inclusive working environments. 
 
The Law Society Lawyers with Disabilities Division have commissioned the same researchers, the Legally Disabled team, to carry out further research to capture people’s experiences.
 
Join them on Monday 2 November for the virtual launch of; ‘The impact of COVID-19 on the employment and training of disabled lawyers in England and Wales: opportunities for job-redesign and best practice’.

They will be discussing the findings, how to improve disability inclusion and taking stock of lessons learnt during COVID-19.
 
Book your place

This launch will be followed by a series of roundtables to explore in more detail some of the findings.


Please email lawyerswithdisabilities@lawsociety.org.uk if you would like to attend either of the following:

  • Tuesday 17 November (12.30 – 14.00)
  • Thursday 26 November (12.30 – 14.00)

You can find out more about Lawyers with Disabilities here.

Upcoming Bristol Law Society Events

Bristol Law Society has a number of FREE webinars that are open to Women Lawyers Division members.

Upcoming Webinars include:

  • Contracts, Covid-19, Frustration and Force Majeure – 26 August – In a world turned upside-down, Mike and Adam examine how force majeure clauses and the doctrine of frustration applies to contracts.
  • The Conveyancers Guide – the importance of due diligence within the search pack – 16 September – Wessex Searches & Landmark will be sharing their knowledge & recommendations for conveyancers on water & sewerage, environ risks & flooding
  • Growing a dispute resolution practice – 7 October how can retainers, funding and insurance provide an edge in a competitive market?

You can find the full list of webinars and registration information here.

WLD Bristol Mentoring Network Launch

The Women Lawyers Division (Bristol) is pleased to announce the launch of their new mentoring network.

While we are seeing some easing of lockdown restrictions, it is inevitable that working life will be mainly from home for the next few months and we will all need to continue to adjust as part of our working lives. With that in mind we want to make sure that we provide peer support and mentoring relationship locally by setting up a Women Lawyers Division Mentoring Network, so that members can feel supported as they start to move forward towards whatever comes next.

Launch Event

We will be holding a launch event online on 9 July from 1.00 – 1.45 pm, where we will hear from guest speaker, Emma Jones, from the University of Sheffield. Emma will speak about the benefits of formal mentoring, the positive impact that it can have on your mental health and wellbeing and the ways in which it can be used to provide support. We will also hear from Coralie McKeivor, Chair of Women Lawyers Division in Bristol who will tell us more about the new mentoring network and how you can get involved.

Guest Speaker

Dr Emma Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield. Prior to this, she was Teaching Director at The Open University Law School. She originally practised as a solicitor, specialising in construction law. Her research focuses on the role of emotions and wellbeing in legal education and the legal profession and she leads the Fit for Law project with the charity LawCare.

Mentoring Network

We are looking for both mentors and mentees that would be interested in taking part in the scheme. For the first stage of this Mentoring Scheme, we ask that you commit to a minimum of three video calls of 30 minutes over the next 6-8 weeks. If this sounds like something that would be of interest or you are interested in mentoring generally, please join us for this event.

Sign up to our launch event using Eventbrite. Joining details will be sent prior to the event.

Webinar: An introduction to Professional Coaching: What is it and why should I care?

Bristol Law Society in association with Luke Menzies Coaching invites WLD members to an online webinar on 1 July 2020 at 1 pm.

Coaching has developed enormously over recent years. Nowadays, hundreds of thousands of business people and professionals – including many lawyers – are benefitting from coaching every year in the UK alone. So what’s it’s all about? How can it help a solicitors’ firm or chambers? Luke Menzies, a Bristol lawyer and professional coach, will provide an insight into the world of coaching for professionals and business people.

As part of this session, Luke will shed light on the positively focussed ‘thinking space’ that coaching provides for a busy professional, tackling practical and essential topics such as where you want to go in your career (and wider life), how you might get there and what unhelpful habits you may be able to spot and then shed along the way, to increase your performance, resilience, success and overall happiness. It includes how your ‘best self’ can get the opportunity to turn up for work every day – not just occasionally or when you’re lucky.

This is sure to be a thought-provoking webinar from someone who is not afraid to challenge the way we lawyers tend to view our working life.

Click here for full information and to book your place.