Ashurst has announced that it is reviewing its promotions system for bias after it emerged that all the trainees not getting jobs this September are from a black or minority ethnic (BME) background.
Ashurst has offered NQ jobs to all but six of the 30 trainees qualifying this September. Unfortunately, of those six, every single one is from a BME background. At the very least it's an unfortunate coincidence, and a bit of a PR nightmare.
It may not be time for a visit from the NAACP, however. Two of the six who aren't getting jobs declined to put themselves forward (hopefully not just because they were forced to use a different water fountain). And four of the 24 trainees who are being kept on are, in fact, from a BME background.
But the howler has shaken up the firm, and prompted it to review its processes. A spokeswoman told RollOnFriday, "Ashurst is clear that the firm's future success depends on recognising and harnessing the widest possible range of talent. We are confident that our selection processes at trainee and NQ level are objective and fair. That said, we are currently reviewing development and promotion systems to check for potential bias affecting under-represented groups. We will work closely with all of our networks in continuing to look at this openly and honestly and in acting on any findings."
After its very public pregnant trainee fiasco, Travers Smith learnt to its cost what happens when a firm doesn't keep a close eye on potential discrimination.
Tip Off ROF
Ashurst has offered NQ jobs to all but six of the 30 trainees qualifying this September. Unfortunately, of those six, every single one is from a BME background. At the very least it's an unfortunate coincidence, and a bit of a PR nightmare.
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urst |
It may not be time for a visit from the NAACP, however. Two of the six who aren't getting jobs declined to put themselves forward (hopefully not just because they were forced to use a different water fountain). And four of the 24 trainees who are being kept on are, in fact, from a BME background.
But the howler has shaken up the firm, and prompted it to review its processes. A spokeswoman told RollOnFriday, "Ashurst is clear that the firm's future success depends on recognising and harnessing the widest possible range of talent. We are confident that our selection processes at trainee and NQ level are objective and fair. That said, we are currently reviewing development and promotion systems to check for potential bias affecting under-represented groups. We will work closely with all of our networks in continuing to look at this openly and honestly and in acting on any findings."
After its very public pregnant trainee fiasco, Travers Smith learnt to its cost what happens when a firm doesn't keep a close eye on potential discrimination.
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The lame argument explaining the number of female partners (the mother/worker issue) doesn't apply to skin colour, so what's the reason?
How about a rof survey - ask all the top firms what percentage of partners (in the England AND gobally) are black, asian etc and whether they're male/female.
It would be interesting to see if they were promoted internally or laterals - it's easy to hire a minority parter if he or she is bringing a book of work - less so without an associated uplift in turnover.
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The sad truth is that this results in a visible lack of diversity at the big firms. HR departments know about this problem. The responsibility lies with the partners who make the final decisions on qualification positions.
And for the cynics saying it is a case of HR pushing under-qualified BME students into the trainee ranks 'affirmatively', from my own experience every BME trainee I know who has come up against this issue has been offered a similar qualification position elsewhere before completing their training contracts or shortly after.
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Positive discrimination of any kind is ridiculous. The fact is that by positively discriminating "for" one you end up discriminating against another.
How is it any better that a good white candidate loses out on a job because of the colour of his or her skin i.e. because his fellow trainee edged him to the NQ position due to the firm positively discriminating.
There are more white lawyers in the UK because of social issues that occur at a level well beyond (and, frankly, well beyond the responsibilty of) a profit making business such as a law firm.
Let society evolve / sort itself at a higher level and more BME background candidates will come through and get jobs on qualification.