What’s really working for inclusion and wellbeing in law?

A blog by LawCare and Rachael O’Connor, University of Leeds

At the end of June, LawCare and the University of Leeds came together to host a thought-provoking in-person event exploring what’s really working to improve inclusion and wellbeing across the legal sector.

Held at Leeds University Business School, the event was introduced by Elizabeth Rimmer from LawCare and chaired by Rachael O’Connor (Associate Professor in Legal Education). It brought together a diverse panel of legal professionals, researchers, and advocates to share their experiences and practical ideas for improving inclusion and wellbeing in law. Speakers included Tegan Knappy (Gordons LLP), Richard Cressall (Shoosmiths LLP), Luke Corcoran (Government Legal Department and Leeds Law Society), Connie Dalziel (Pinsent Masons LLP), Chris McGrath (Addleshaw Goddard LLP), and Verity Bedford-Read (University of Leeds), each offering valuable perspectives on how the profession can create more inclusive, supportive environments.

This event was about moving beyond good intentions and focusing on what’s actually making a difference in real legal workplaces. We need to build cultures where everyone feels heard, valued, and supported, not just in theory but in day-to-day reality.

What we heard: Key themes from the discussion

1. Inclusion begins with recognising identities and lived experiences

Panellists spoke about how identity - whether linked to disability, faith, sexuality, social background, or diverse routes into law such as through legal apprenticeships - can affect how included people feel at work.

They said reverse mentoring, where junior staff mentor senior colleagues based on their lived experience expertise, can be a powerful way to help leaders understand different perspectives and take informed action. It was great to hear that some members of the panel involved in our reverse mentoring scheme have continued their mentoring relationships beyond the project, demonstrating the strength of connections made. Peer mentoring was also highlighted as a positive initiative for people with shared characteristics such as neurodivergent lawyers.

They also spoke positively about apprenticeships, working with local colleges, and other access programmes at school/university level that help a more diverse range of people access careers in law.

We keep hearing that the legal profession wants to be more inclusive, but we have to match that ambition with meaningful action. Inclusion isn't just a policy or a buzzword, it’s about how people actually feel at work. That means creating space for real, lived experiences to be heard, respected, and taken seriously through intentional initiatives like reverse mentoring. Only then can we begin to build truly supportive and psychologically safe workplaces.

— Trish McLellan, Director of Engagement, LawCare

2. Why people commit to this work

Many speakers felt a personal responsibility to improve the culture of the profession, often shaped by their own experiences of feeling excluded, marginalised or being discriminated against. Support from managers, involvement in staff networks and lunchtime conversations, and seeing real progress from these actions helped them stay motivated. The general consensus was that inclusion and wellbeing related work and initiatives are absolutely critical to business success – not just a nice to have but a must do in order for legal businesses to survive and thrive.

3. Representation and role models matter but we must go further

Even though progress has been made, there’s still a lack of representation and role models in the law when it comes to a range of identities and backgrounds including class, disability, ethnicity, and neurodiversity and different routes into the profession.

Speakers said it’s really important to build workplace cultures through which students and junior lawyers can feel that they belong to a career in the law — even if they don’t see many people like themselves in senior roles yet.

They explored reverse mentoring and outreach in schools and local communities as good ways to help people aspiring to join the profession to see that there’s more than one way to have a successful and rewarding career in law. The panel also talked about the importance of sharing success stories to demonstrate how people from diverse backgrounds can and do thrive in the law without having to change themselves or become inauthentic.

4. Barriers we still need to address

Persistent challenges, like stigma around mental health, rigid, long-hours working cultures, and financial pressures, continue to limit inclusion and wellbeing progress across the sector. The panel shared some suggestions:

• Make it culturally normal for everyone to talk about mental health at work, given that we all know working in the legal profession raises a range of wellbeing challenges
• Be aware of and meet different needs as standard including dietary, religious, or neurodiversity requirements/support
• Recognise that students and junior staff in particular may be under financial pressure and feel uncomfortable raising this and support  financial wellbeing alongside financial wellbeing.
• Actively fight against outdated cultures of long-hours and presenteeism

The message was clear: without addressing these barriers, the profession risks losing talent and reinforcing inequality.

Final thoughts: what can we do now?

Panellists were asked to share one meaningful thing that legal educators or employers could do right now to make a difference. Here’s what they said:

• Be open about and supporting mental and financial wellbeing
• Invest in mentoring at every level, including mandatory mentoring for senior leaders
• Make inclusion a long-term, strategic commitment, not a trend
• Introduce diversity initiatives at partner/leadership levels to make positive change happen more quickly
• Prevent recruitment decisions being made from looking solely at a candidate’s grades, instead, taking time to consider the holistic individual
• Review and widen reward mechanisms for lawyers beyond hours billed, for example, engagement in diversity and wellbeing networks
• Increase the financial commitment made to access and pathways programmes at school and university level to ensure the pipeline of talent coming into the profession remains diverse

People in the audience asked a range of questions, including how legal education can better prepare students for the realities of the job without putting them off entirely. They also asked if the UK is seeing the same kind of backlash against diversity and inclusion as in some other countries. Questions also included reflections on the stigma around legal apprenticeship/CILEX routes into law and managing conversations in the workplace with senior leaders who are not open about mental health and wellbeing.

It was fantastic to bring together this panel and a great bunch of attendees from all levels and stages of the legal profession and legal education at this event. It was especially good to see law students, apprentices and trainees in the audience and involved in the discussions – they are the future of the profession and it’s vital that we bring those at the junior and senior ends of the sector together for these critical conversations.

– Rachael O’Connor, Associate Professor in Legal Education and LawCare Trustee.

Reverse mentoring toolkit

This event also marked the launch of our new Reverse mentoring toolkit - a free, practical resource designed to help law firms and legal organisations become more inclusive, supportive, and fairer places to work.

Download the toolkit and find more resources relating to reverse mentoring here: Partnerships for Cultural Change: Reverse Mentoring in higher education and the legal profession | Research projects | Faculty of Social Sciences | University of Leeds