Equality & Diversity Training
The Law Society decided that all its ‘Council’ members must partake in Equality and Diversity training as a pre-condition of attending meetings of the Council or its committees.
Schneider~Ross has been training existing and new Council members over the last two years. The training has consisted of general awareness raising, basic legal obligations with regard to equality issues and exploration of the importance of equality and diversity for the specific role of Council members. The training has been highly inter-active. Methods used have included quizes, case studies, video scenarios and short presentations.
The solicitors’ profession is changing fast. Over half the new entrants to the profession are now women and increasing numbers are from minority ethnic groups. Council members need to feel confident in being able to represent all solicitors and to ensure that different voices can be heard. It is essential for the future of the profession that recruitment and promotion processes are fair. In addition to this, the way solicitors’ services are provided increasingly must take account of a pluralistic society where different groups of people have different needs. On both these counts the reputation of the profession rests on the need to avoid discrimination. This too has formed part of the training.
Lawyers, by their nature, can often be argumentative and this has made for lively debates during the sessions. These have been useful learning experiences and they have also been enjoyed both by the participants and by the trainer!’
Related links
- Complete List of Case Studies
- Related Services - Learning & Development
- Related Diversity Dimensions - Gender / Race & Ethnicity