Volkswagen Group (VWG) and Shoosmiths

Working together to make first of its kind inroads with a new D&I initiative

The VWG legal team has been working on some really interesting projects, including how they can be make an impact to improve diversity and promote social mobility. Shoosmiths provide VWG with a secondee who shared their passion and vision for new ideas and change.

 

 

Client offering

Through their passion and commitment to making change happen, our client Volkswagen Group (VWG) has created a ‘first of its kind’ internship which provides places to those who are under-represented in the legal profession. A great effort to promote diversity and social mobility in the legal industry.

The market

Social mobility is a key area of focus for many organisations, not least related to the legal sector.  Background and circumstance are no longer disqualifiers to careers in the legal profession.  Pivotal to this perspective is the inclination to act and provide tangible means for under-represented groups to be considered within an environment of fair access for all.

The solution

Through sharing the same focus and a passion to implement change, VWG created a new initiative working with Shoosmiths.  Tarn Kaur, a Shoosmiths trainee secondee, worked with the in-house legal team at VWG to develop the intern programme to promote diversity within the legal industry.

The first cohort of legal interns started in July 2021 and they will not only learn on the job about different areas of law, but will also be supported on their route into the profession, working with 12 lawyers and trainee solicitors from VWG and Shoosmiths during their two weeks.

The response

Within 48 hours of posting about the initiative on Linkedin, Amanda Callear, senior IHL at VWG, had over 10,000 views of her post - whilst our share of the same post had reached nearly 5,000 views. It’s clearly an area of interest and clients are keen to share ideas and ways to move the agenda forward.

For Tarn, Shoosmiths have celebrated her contribution by awarding her with an employee recognition award which acknowledges the enormous impact her input had to the intern programme. The firm is also looking at other clients that they can collaborate with to develop more tangible results in this arena.

In her interview with Law.com, Amanda explains what motivated her:

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Without a focus on under-represented groups, there is a great risk of leaving behind individuals with great potential. All lawyers should be regularly asking themselves ‘what have I done to help those less-privileged than myself?’

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