Race for Change: More than words

On Wednesday 16 October, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP hosted Race for Change, an annual event aimed at aspiring black lawyers. It’s not often I pinch myself part way through an event (I actually did that). This is my first ever LinkedIn article, as I just cannot do - or attempt to do - justice to Race for Change in a short post. So here goes...

• Change: Race for Change has evolved over the years. It was (rightly) never about BCLP.  The intention was to do something practical to support efforts to increase the representation of black lawyers in private practice. But likewise until last year’s event, BCLP had only hired one participant of the 100s coming through our doors.  Race for Change was awesome - but it wasn't creating the change we so desperately wanted to see.  Hand in hand with the brilliant Chloe Muir, the D&I and Graduate Recruitment teams at BCLP (with full support from our partner leads) - made some changes. Not only to how we promote Race for Change and select participants, but to our hiring processes.  Removing unnecessary barriers. Those changes have changed who we are hiring (I'm using the word "Change" a lot here - I'm unapologetic on that - it's a good word!). In our last recruiting round 13% training contract offers made by BCLP were to Race for Change participants and 20% to black candidates.  This is a real shift-change.
• Candour: One question which came up during our planning process this year is whether we were right to specifically ask our panellists about the challenges, barriers and hurdles they have faced in this industry. Could this feel negative? Would our audience walk away feeling deterred, rather than inspired? We decided that honesty and candour was the only way. The discussions covered so much ground - from what is said about you when you are not in the room, to hair, to perceptions and bias. Was it downbeat? No, it was uplifting. Thank you to our panellists and our audience for creating such trust in the room - there were so many moments when you could have heard a pin drop.
• Collaboration: We have always been proud to invite speakers from other firms and other areas of the profession to speak at Race for Change - and incredibly grateful that leaders, future leaders and new talent across our profession will give up time to support the event. We will never change the profession if we refuse to work together. It was humbling to have so many exceptional people join us from our keynote speakers Sophie Chandauka and Leslie Thomas QC, to our panellists Karine Kirlew, Alex Morgan, Claudine Adeyemi, Vanya Bromfield, Carla Akuamoah Antelo, Faiza Bishi, Hervé Irankunda and Tepo Din. For BCLP, Race for Change is also turning into somewhat of a global collaboration - we were joined by Jason DeJonker (BCLP Partner, Chicago) and Tina Blazquez-Lopez (BCLP Of Counsel, Dubai).  Thanks to the exceptional team of friends and colleagues at BCLP who have brought this event to life, particularly Hayat Omer, Chloe Muir, Daniel Burnand, Segun Osuntokun, Hervé Irankunda, Sunita Chawla, Tim Smith and to BCLP alumnus Natalie Carter - a driving force behind the very first Race for Change, who returned to co-lead our closing remarks.

Perhaps what really made this event though was the level of interest and engagement from the undergraduates and graduates who travelled from far and wide to join us in the room. Who remained engaged and captivated throughout six hours (yes, SIX HOURS!) of presentations and discussion, who asked questions which brought the room to life and who I hope walked away feeling inspired to be part of the change taking place in this industry. Wherever you forge your career, I sincerely hope our paths cross again!

Perhaps a final "C" to round things off from me.  Coffee.  Over coffee during the BCLP summer vacation scheme this year, I spoke with two of our 2018 Race for Change participants, Joel Padi and Manuela Ampontuah.  Both had training contract interviews pending.  We agreed over coffee, if you get the training contract, wouldn't it be awesome if you spoke at the next Race for Change event?  What happened? Well, yes they did - and yes they did.  I can't promise the same outcome with every coffee, but for any Race for Changers who'd like to pop back for a chat with me or the team at any time, DM me.

A huge thanks to the team at BCLP. This event is not “my baby”, the concept pre-dated me and my time at the firm, but I am an exceptionally proud part of the delivery team who are seeing this exceptional event go from strength to strength.  Here's to next year!