Spotlight on: Mishcon de Reya's Racial Equity network

Mishcon de Reya is a leading independent law firm. They believe everyone brings their unique perspectives and experience to any advice, transaction, or dispute.

Championing diversity and inclusion is part of the firm's core values and its Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging strategy outlines its targets and commitments. As part of driving the change set out in this strategy, the firm has a number of active employee network groups.

One of these is their racial equity network, M:Brace. Second year trainee and M:Brace member Destiny Okongwu has interviewed Kizzy Augustin, a Partner at Mishcon, to explain the work they do. Read on to find out more.

I am Kizzy Augustin, and I am a Partner at Mishcon de Reya in the Criminal and Regulatory Enforcement team and the Head of the Health and Safety team.

I am a member of our racial equity network, M:BRACE. We established this network to bring people within Mishcon together and our wider community of clients and contacts who identify as coming from an ethnic minority background and/or have an interest in anti-racism. M:BRACE helps to ensure the visibility of Mishcon's growing, ethnically diverse population and that people feel a sense of belonging, inclusion and recognition. The network creates opportunities for networking, cross-referral, support and collaboration on both internal and external business development initiatives and events. Within M:BRACE, I am the subgroup co-chair of the professional and personal development strand.

I am also on the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, sitting as the co-chair of the race steering group.

I am also an active member of our gender and social mobility networks.

We build awareness of issues that affect both our internal members but also our wider community. Our initiatives help to promote racial equity across the board and support the development of our employees such as running a mentoring scheme and hosting relevant webinars. We also regularly host networking events to encourage better communication between those that feel that have experienced racial equity issues or are in support of anti-racism at work and racial equity. To mark Black History Month 2022, we hosted a series of M:BRACE sponsored events. This included a fantastic panel event on Black Health and Wellness as well as an interview with Barrister and “Chaser” Shaun Wallace – both of which I led. The Health and Wellness panel event was followed by our first M:BRACE social which proved to be a massive success – we had a fantastic turnout, along with excellent Caribbean music and food. Black History Month also allowed us to take over the canteen menu on occasion. Our trainees were also heavily involved in supporting Black History Month, with a Football Beyond Borders podcast and an article on the evolution of Black British music and its influence on identity and unity.

M:BRACE has a direct communication link with the EDI Committee through the race strand. It enables us to ensure that any racial equity issues are raised directly with the Committee and the Board in order to effect change. Race equity training for the whole firm is provided on a non-negotiable basis.

We have reviewed our recruitment processes to ensure that we encourage attraction of good candidates from ethnically diverse backgrounds, but also we want to maintain and improve our retention of these candidates. These efforts have been facilitated by our affiliations and partnerships with various organisations such as Rare Recruitment, 10,000 Black Interns, and The Stephen James Partnership.

Racial equity issues are issues that are experienced day in, day out by members of staff from an ethnic minority background that are valuable members of our makeup. Awareness needs to start from within; it is not sufficient to listen to EDI speakers and not 'bring it home' i.e. there is a need to learn from others and make changes to our own internal policies and practices, where necessary. It also demonstrates to these staff members that they are valued and that we are making EDI work part of the knowledge sharing facility. Therefore, if we are not approaching EDI issues from an internal perspective, we are doing a disservice not just to our ethnic minority staff, but to the whole organisation. It is crucial to make EDI a part of our intrinsic culture. Research has globally shown that having a diverse workforce leads to increased productivity – we must see the ethical and commercial benefits to this approach.

All incoming trainees, and any new member of staff, can become a part of M:BRACE upon joining the firm. The network can be useful to new trainees, especially being new to the legal environment or workforce. It will assure them that when they join a new firm, they will be able to take part in events and activities that will promote a good work culture, and that there are people they can turn to if they have any concerns to raise. It starts with them being aware that these networks do exist, and that there is a structure in place that will look after the cultural and non-academic side of what makes them who they are. I found our race equity network very useful when I joined Mishcon; I have loved seeing it develop as a fully functioning and effective network and I'm determined to play a part in its continued success.

Being an active member will be most useful to new joiners. There is a dual function to M:BRACE – it creates a space for our members to engage with events and have a safe space to talk about what affects them, but also to have a voice and be part of the solution in truly achieving racial equity at the firm.

Firstly, keep an open mind in respect of the environment you will be working in. Lots of ethnic minority students might have a perception that because there aren’t many senior ethnic minority lawyers in a firm, there isn't a great choice of senior leaders that they can relate to. This is not necessarily the case. There may be people who are not from an ethnic minority background within the relevant networks who could provide useful guidance and support.  It is also beneficial to research not just who works at a firm, but also the type of culture that they display. A good way of approaching this is by getting honest feedback from people that already work there.

Secondly, you should be authentically you (but remember where you are). By that I mean that you are in a professional environment, so you should still be your best professional self, but you can do that without compromising who you really are. Don’t be afraid or ashamed of being you.

For example, I will be the utmost professional when speaking to clients and colleagues. However, I am a whole person, so whilst I will of course be professional at all times, there will be clients and/or colleagues that will know personal things about me, such as the fact that I have young children and carer responsibilities – which can be a talking point that helps form a rapport with potential and existing clients.

I would like to ensure that we have actually created that safe space for ethnic minority employees who wish to utilise that space. Our growing ethnically diverse Mishcon population (both our colleagues and clients) must remain visible and therefore we must continue to provide a sense of belonging, inclusion and recognition. Also, it is important to make sure that our mentoring scheme is effective, well utilised, and is providing the support services it set out to achieve. M:BRACE must continue to include business development initiatives to create cross-referral collaboration and events. As well as being an ethically sound approach to achieving racial equity for all, there is a business case for having a diverse and inclusive workforce.

I would love to attract more candidates from an ethnic minority background to the firm and retain them. The current goal is to increase the percentage of Black and socially disadvantaged candidates in our future trainee cohorts to at least 40% and retaining those trainees on qualification; and to increase the percentage of Black and socially disadvantaged candidates in our apprenticeship cohorts to at least 60% and retaining those apprentices at the end of their apprenticeship. I would like us to consider whether moving forward, we should have separate targets for Black and socially disadvantaged candidates.

I want Mishcon to be the best firm it can be. The ultimate future goal is to have eradicated any inequity within our firm (just as other law firms should strive to achieve) and create a fully diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone.