Continuing to support Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

19/04/2024 15:24:41

We are committed to creating inclusive workplaces and opportunities across the legal profession.

The Law Society believes an accessible, inclusive and diverse profession will greater reflect the clients, colleagues and communities we serve. We continue to work towards creating a culture of inclusion, mutual respect and equal opportunities with the Law Society and across the legal profession.

Recent GEDI activities include:

  1. Becoming a disAbility Legal Network (DLN) Ally As a DLN ally we have pledged to increase awareness and understanding of disability and improve accessibility within the legal workplace.
  2. Mentoring Women in Leadership By pairing mentors and mentees across the profession this programme supports professional development of women in the legal sector to advance to more senior roles. 
  3. Assisting solicitors returning to work This programme guides and facilities solicitors returning to the legal workplace after an extended break.
  4. Supporting Ukrainian Lawyers We continue to assist in coordinating offers of assistance to Ukrainian Lawyers who have been forced to relocate to Ireland.
  5. Marking 100 years of women in law In 2023 we commemorated the centenary anniversary of the admission of the first woman solicitor to the roll in Ireland.

To support colleagues with disabilities, the Law Society’s Technology Committee created a list of software tools to support inclusion in legal firms in 2021. This list is now being reviewed and we would appreciate your suggestions for any software packages and solutions that you have found helpful to improve accessibility in the workplace. Please contact katemckenna@frontline.vc with details.

Join the GEDI movement

Gender equality, diversity and inclusion impact everything that we do. We support legal professionals to do the same in their own firms and organisations through the GEDI Charter.

We invite firms and in-house and public sector legal teams to pledge their names to the Law Society GEDI Charter. Signatories agree to treat all individuals and groups of individuals fairly and equally.

Supporting visually impaired lawyers (webinar) We encourage you to join the disAbility Legal Network’s upcoming webinar on supporting clients and colleagues with visual impairments, hosted in collaboration with Eversheds Sutherland, on Thursday 25 April from 2pm-3pm.

Reading List

The Law Society Library has provided an updated reading list on the topics of Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, including accessibility awareness.

Contact us

For queries or more information, contact GEDICharter@lawsociety.ie.