Abridged October 2007
Ministry of Justice Honorary QC Nominations
The Ministry of Justice intends to recommend a number of people to Her Majesty for appointment as Queens Counsel 'honoris causa' (honorary Silk) in early 2008. Provisionally they are looking to recommend up to four people for the award. They are inviting both the legal sector and the wider public to make nominations by Friday 2nd November 2007 Click here to view further information
Law firm resistance to Diversity
(from The Lawyer, p4 )
Results of a survey apparently reveal that there is widespread resistance to the aggressive promotion of diversity in UK law firms, especially among senior management.
A YouGov survey commissioned by The Lawyer shows that management teams are particularly sceptical when it comes to providing data on diversity, with a large number railing against the idea of punishing firms for failing to do so.
Whilst the majority of managing partners surveyed supported diversity, most of them said they were not in favour of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) naming and shaming or penalising firms that did not provide diversity data.
Samantha Mobley, chair of Baker & McKenzie's diversity committee, says she had not experienced any resistance to diversity promotion at her firm.
Mobley says: "At a recent meeting about diversity at the Law Society there was a comment made by the general counsel of a FTSE100 company that the law firm representatives at the meeting were the usual suspects that embrace diversity and are taking it seriously. The real challenge is to get others to embrace it."
Deepak Malhotra, chair of the London committee of the C&I Group, agrees that some firms are more active than others when it comes to promoting diversity. He says that while the Law Society's charter is a great start, diversity is a broader issue than just providing data to FTSE100 companies. He suggests that the Law Society or legal private practice should commission some research. Click here to view further information at The Lawyer website
Disability Awareness Training for Libraries
(From the CILIP Library update)
The Open Rose Group, comprised of library staff involved in supporting disabled users at eight Yorkshire universities, has produced a film plus supporting materials for use in libraries to assist staff training on disability issues. Click to view further information on Leeds Metropolitan Website
Clifford Chance law firm settles former partner's claim for sexual orientation discrimination
Clifford Chance has been struck by what is thought to be the first UK discrimination claim against a law firm on the grounds of sexual orientation. Click here to view article and discussion on Personnel Today and:Click here to view report on The Lawyer Website
Commerce and Industry Group NE Mentoring Programme
As part of their commitment to support in-house lawyers, this group is pleased to announce that they are launching a North East Mentoring Programme. Due to the popularity of the Group’s recent pilot scheme in London, it has been decided to roll this out to other regions.
The group have secured the support of 8 senior in-house lawyers to act as mentors Click here to view a list of the mentors This programme is aimed at improving career development for in-house lawyers, and giving you the opportunity to broaden your network and gain useful insights from a mentor on career and skills development. The programme will operate for a 6 month period.
If you are an in-house lawyer with less than five years PQE, and you work within a small in-house team or as a sole in-house lawyer, this is an ideal opportunity for you.
If you are interested in participating in this innovative programme then please send an email to info@cigroup.org.uk
National bus pass for older and disabled people unveiled
Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly unveiled the new pass that will give older and disabled people free off-peak bus travel across England from 1st April, 2008. Click here to view further information on the national pass
Annual car parking survey confirms widespread abuse of blue badge bays
A survey, carried out by Disability Now Magazine, Mobilise and the British Polio Fellowship, which was also publicised to GSD members via the “Can you help us” section of our website, has shown that more than 20% of blue badge bays in supermarkets are regularly being used by non-disabled drivers. This figure has shown no sign of improvement since the last survey was carried out in 2005. Statistics from public car parks are still worse, with over a third of all blue badge bays being regularly abused by non-disabled drivers, a rise from the figure of 28% in 2005.
Full Survey details are now no longer available on Disability Now News.