On Tuesday, February 28, LDIA organized her next bi-monthly meeting on biases, organized and animated by Inclusion Now. The meeting was hosted by DLA Piper.
On 31 January LDIA celebrated her 4th anniversary of the launch of LDIA
Thanks to our LDIA members who joined us yesterday evening to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the launch of the Legal Diversity & Inclusion Alliance. Kathleen M. (Kat) Van Nuffel welcomed everyone and took the opportunity to remind us why LDIA was founded and what our Alliance stands for.
Fiona Carlin from Baker McKenzie introduced the theme of the evening: Promoting socio-economic diversity in law firms.
A first conversation was engaged by Philippe Lion with Sophie Englebert, Managing Director at Be.Face, in which she shared their approach, from mentoring to organizing internships for students.
A second conversation was engaged by Niels De Waele with Pieter De Witte, Managing Director at “Toekomst atelier de l’avenir” (TADA).
This was followed by a panel discussion on “why this initiative matters”, moderated by Niels De Waele in conversation with Laila Kouchi (Associate, Baker McKenzie), Sonia Belhassen (Associate, Clifford Chance), Tamara Nouwen (HR Officer Allen & Overy) and Soulaimane Ali (TADA Alumnus).
They shared lively and very interesting personal experiences, from being a mentee to becoming a mentor, and the importance of equal chances for everyone who starts legal studies.
Fiona Carlin engaged an open discussion with the audience on the way forward.
She acknowledged that we are still learning and are willing to improve our approach but it takes time to create a mindset shift when hiring in law firms.
The question was also raised about the very high level of expectations with regards to grades and LL.M’s when hiring lawyers.
Our offer for support and guidance should open up to all roles in law firms, not only lawyers.
The event ended with a networking cocktail.
Events 2019 – 2022
