Herbert Smith Freehills, supported by The Law Society, recently hosted an in person event focussing on improving autistic inclusion in the legal profession.
Although many practitioner and business support roles offered by legal services employers are attractive to autistic job-seekers, neurodiversity in the profession is not where we would like it to be. Barriers and misconceptions often mean that autistic people struggle to secure positions while neurodivergent colleagues are reluctant to disclose their diagnoses and ask for adjustments to support their progression in the workplace.
Given the much-discussed talent ‘crisis’ in the legal sector, and the shocking statistics for unemployment among autistic adults, the case for improving autistic inclusion has a strong business as well as moral foundation – especially as the obstacles to realising the potential of this talented group are far from insurmountable.
Our goal is to enhance understanding of the challenges and opportunities by enabling firms to connect, sharing lessons learned and highlighting the value of partnerships to making progress.
The event was attended by HR and D&I leads of legal employers and others who are involved in promoting autism inclusivity in their organisation.
Please view the video of the event here and for further information please contact [email protected]
