Our ability to continue to attract the best quality graduates in a highly competitive market is one of the major challenges facing the firm and we believe our approach to diversity is key in this regard.
The firm supports a variety of initiatives designed to recruit top quality graduates from diverse backgrounds. We also offer direct support for students from diverse backgrounds via a diversity mentoring scheme in association with universities not traditionally targeted by the firm. The aim is to tackle inequality and under-representation by supporting students (including law students) that for reasons of nationality, ethnicity, disability or background, may find it difficult to build networks and gain experience, or have sufficient self-confidence to realise their potential.
Opportunities to experience working at Herbert Smith are available via a number of placement programmes in association with Hackney Community College, London First, the Linkson Fellowship and Blind in Business. These projects are run in conjunction with our Community Investment Programme and are particularly designed to foster links with the diverse communities local to our London office.
The firm regularly sponsors events designed to promote working in the City to diverse audiences, including an open day for black Afro-Caribbean undergraduates in collaboration with other law firms and the publishers GTI, the Minority Lawyers Conference, the National Mentoring Consortium’s awards ceremony, and supported a student award for the Black Solicitors Network.
In addition, we are working to raise our profile as an employer by advertising in media with a high black and ethnic minority readership; working with our specially recruited student Campus Managers at some of the newer universities; and participating in a national conference for Gifted and Talented Children. In association with the College of Law we also fund an annual prize for black and Asian students in memory of Roger Leyland who was a partner at Herbert Smith and the first black partner at a leading City firm.