I attended the InterLaw Diversity forum. This was an incredibly organised event that connected aspiring lawyers to a diverse and inspirational group of people. The Interlaw team, Daniel, Jonathan and Usha, worked tirelessly to provide a unique networking opportunity to hand-picked students! So I’m grateful to them for being selected and have attended.
The forum
The morning started with opening remarks from Simon Davies, The Law Society’s current President, Daniel Winterfeldt, founder & chair of InterLaw Diversity forum and partner at Reed Smith and a keynote by Ike Osaki, General Councel at the Bank of America. The message I took away from all three was that firms are working towards a more diverse and inclusive workplace although this seems to be taking time! Nevertheless, this event highlighted and celebrated the diverse professionals who attended the forum.
There were panel discussions from various individuals – Netflix Director and senior counsel, Farisha Constable spoke about her experiences when starting her legal career and what she has achieved so far. Simon Jones, legal counsel in Google, inspired us with his background story and how he found passion with a legal career and will be taking a new career step soon.
The next panel included Zara Okereafor, associate at Stewarts and how she found her career path whilst working in a non-legal environment – opportunities are everywhere! This panel was chaired by Vanessa Harvey who is Recruitment Manager at Milbank, who shared her tips of applying and especially to US firms who will consider and understand that educational journeys are different.
The afternoon was packed with workshops – we were split into five groups and rotated each workshop as per the schedule:
Strategies for coping with curveballs – building resilience and how to navigate obstacles on your journey
Legal Theatre: setting the scene – practicing and developing your skills before presenting
Standing out from the crowd – how to find your own USP and be proud of it
Application Law – finding common mistakes in applications and how to avoid them
There were many firms which attend, amongst those were Cooley, CRS, Macfarlanes, Bird & Bird.
For the first time in a long time, I felt optimistic leaving this event and inspired by the organisers and speakers so thank you to all! For more pictures and updates, follow my Instagram page here.
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