The Annual AS All Star Awards, hosted by Dechert celebrated the collective achievements and efforts in increasing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. The event brought together our valued supporting organisations who have worked with Aspiring Solicitors to support its members to secure 7500+ vacation schemes and training contracts since January 2014.
From everyone at Aspiring Solicitors, we would like to thank all of our members and supporting organisations for their continued support to help us achieve our aim to increase diversity in the legal profession.
All Star Performance in Recruiting Diverse Talent 2022 – Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
Congratulations to Herbert Smith Freehills for winning the “All Star Performance in Recruiting Diverse Talent 2022” Award. This was awarded based on the firm’s superb results in attracting diverse talent: 97 out of 196 vacation scheme candidates (49%) were AS Members (from an underrepresented group e.g. race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+, social mobility or had a disability or long-term health condition) with 41 out of 66 (62%) of trainees being AS Members.
All Star Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion 2022 – Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Congratulations to BCLP, recognised at the AS Awards for “All Star Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion 2022”. This accolade has been awarded based on BCLP’s commitment to the entire spectrum of talent development programmes delivered by AS: coaching, mentoring, diversity events, the Commercial Awareness Competition initiative, anonymised diversity report and virtual diversity law fairs. Importantly, the firm’s involvement has led to 75% of vacation scheme candidates and 64% of training contract offers being diverse AS members.
All Star Improvement in Recruiting Diverse Talent 2022 – Trowers & Hamlins LLP
Congratulations to Trowers & Hamlins for securing the “All Star Improvement in Recruiting Diverse Talent 2022” Award. 67% of the firm’s trainees were AS Members, a 40% increase from the previous year. This was the best progress recorded out of all AS Partner firms and AS are delighted for the team at the firm who’ve been working tirelessly to diversify their talent pool.
All Star Individual 2022 – Rebecca Worrall, Herbert Smith Freehills
Congratulations to Rebecca Worrall, Graduate Recruitment Manager at Herbert Smith Freehills, for being awarded the ‘AS All Star Individual’ prize for her outstanding contribution to supporting AS Members. Her efforts, whether through the launch of the HSF Disability Scheme, coordination of her team and colleagues within marketing campaigns and industry-wide AS initiatives or personal commitment to enabling AS Members to fulfil their potential, have been central to the firm’s outstanding results in hiring AS Members.
Overall Best Retention of Diverse Talent 2022 – Dechert LLP
Long-term AS supporter Dechert LLP were the first firm to win a new prize “Best Retention of Diverse Talent 2022” that recognises the firm’s immense retention of AS Alumni that have trained at the firm, with 60% of the firm’s 2022 qualifying intake represented by AS Members. With a considerable number of AS Alumni currently training at the firm and set to begin their training in 2023, the firm is confident that this will become a long-term trend.
Diversity Inspiration 2022 – Lyndell Beguinua, Apple
Lyndell has been instrumental in leading his employer’s efforts in supporting AS Members. As a result, several mentees have had unrivalled insights and work shadowing experiences at one of the world’s leading tech companies. We are delighted to award Lyndell the “Diversity Inspiration 2022” Award.
Best Diversity Initiative 2022 – Channel 4
Channel 4 are committed to delivering opportunities to UK regions and have been incredibly successful in ensuring AS Members secure legal opportunities in regional locations and recorded the best feedback from candidates involved in diversity initiatives, they were therefore awarded the “Best Diversity Initiative 2022” prize at the AS Awards.
Best Work Placement 2022 – Meta
Meta won the “Best Work Placement” prize at the AS Awards for their UK-Ireland initiative supporting AS Members. During AS and Meta’s 3 year partnership, the Meta team have worked tirelessly to deliver a unique hybrid work experience and mentoring scheme that has resulted in 80% of mentees securing roles in the legal industry, with 60% offered training contracts at Hogan Lovells, BCLP and Allen & Overy.
Best Mentoring Scheme 2022 – bp and Norton Rose Fulbright
One of the most hotly contested prizes of the evening, “Best Mentoring Scheme 2022”, with 25 different organisations vying for the award, saw bp and Norton Rose Fulbright emerge victorious for their paired mentoring scheme. This initiative provided mentees with the dual perspective of in-house and private practice lawyers, involving very senior professionals from both organisations who will continue to be involved for its 2023 programme.
See the highlights from the event here…