On Wednesday, 11 December we gathered all our Networks (LGBT+, BAME, Disability, and Women's Networks) to celebrate the accomplishments of 2019 and look forward to those of 2020! 

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We raised over £1400 on the night to benefit the work of Mermaids. Formed in 1995 by a group of parents brought together by their children’s longstanding gender incongruence, Mermaids has evolved and grown to meet demand and offer appropriate resources to young people, their families and carers, and professionals working with gender variant young people. Formed primarily as a support group, their focus has widened dramatically over the last few years.

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Thanks to CMS for generously hosting our celebration!

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We had our annual Holiday Drinks Celebration on Wednesday, 12 December at Eversheds Sutherland as a thank you to all of our members, allies, and sponsors for an amazing year! 

We raised nearly £1500 on the night to support the important work of The Albert Kennedy Trust (www.akt.org.uk) and End Youth Homelessness (www.eyh.org.uk).  

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2018 was a busy year! In addition to the regular monthly meetings of our LGBT+ and Race & Ethnicity (BAME) Networks, we commenced bi-monthly meetings of our newly launched ENABLE (Dis)Ability Network; we launched the pilot phase of our new mentoring programme, InterLawConnect, to support the career development of junior lawyers from all strands of diversity (LGBT+, BAME, Disability, as well as social mobility); we raised funds for Switchboard – LGBT+ Helpline and Time's Upat our 9th annual Winter Carnival; we re-launched our trans* initiative, Trans*Mission; and we launched our new Gender Equality Initiative in collaboration with the Law Society.

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Thanks to Eversheds for generously hosting this event!

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As part of our Gender Equality Initiative with the Law Society, we invite you to join us on Wednesday, 21 November at Addleshaw Goddard for a very special monthly meeting of our LGBT+ Network where we will host an in-depth conversation with Inga Beale. 

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We will explore Inga's five-year tenure as CEO of Lloyd's of London, and the wide-ranging impact of her initiatives on innovation, modernisation, and diversity & inclusion. Her programmes have had a global impact on the insurance sector, and her authentic leadership has blazed trails for female CEOs, as well has raised LGBT+ and Bi-visibility in the C-suite.

Since the founding of the InterLaw Diversity Forum over 10 years ago, legal employers have made significant progress on making workplaces more accommodating to gay and lesbian staff. A lack of understanding and knowledge of bisexuality, however, has often resulted in bisexual people remaining largely invisible.

Research by Stonewall has found that bisexual staff felt that low levels of awareness about bisexuality put bisexual people under pressure from their colleagues. Stonewall also found that bisexual staff are felt they are subjected to assumptions that they may find demeaning or inappropriate. We will explore how we can raise bi-visibility, as well as how members of the LGBT+ community and others can be better allies supporting our bi colleagues.

We will also be exploring some exclusive preliminary findings on bisexual members of the legal community from our InterLaw Diversity Forum: Career Progression in the Legal Sector 2018 report coming later this year. Check out our ground-breaking InterLaw Diversity Forum: Career Progression in the Legal Sector 2012 here.

Speakers:

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Inga Beale, CEO, Lloyd's

Daniel Winterfeldt, Global Capital Markets Partner, Reed Smith; Founder & Chair, InterLaw Diversity Forum (moderator)

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Thanks to Addeleshaw Goddard for generously hosting this event!

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On Wednesday 1 August we celebrated our 10th anniversary at our annual summer charity party generously hosted by Jones Day.

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We brought together our LGBT+ Network, our BAME Network, and our ENABLE (Dis)ability Network to celebrate our achievements over the past ten years.

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We also used the occasion to mark the launch our Gender Equality Initiative in collaboration he Law Society.

Speakers:

• Kate Kinninmont, Chief Executive, Women in Film & TV (UK); Director, UK Time's Up movement

• Simon Davis, Vice President, The Law Society; Partner, Clifford Chance

Collections taken at the door raised £1300 to benefit the Kaleidoscope Trust’s vital work supporting LGBT+ equality globally.

Thanks to Jones Day for generously hosting this event!

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