Equality & Inclusion
Introducing you to our community of experts in the field of Equality & Inclusion
We’re excited to reveal to you our experts in the field of Equality & Inclusion, a small group of thought leaders who convene regularly to share ideas and knowledge on this topic.
This group is all about any kind of E&I, including social mobility and psychodiversity. The insights we garner from our Opinion Leaders are available to all our members in the way of articles for our website, and topics for our live events and webinars. Check out our latest content below.
And if you’re keen to help define what the legal HR market needs to know and you’re interested in joining our community, please drop us a line. We’re always on the lookout to grow this close-knit community and provide real value to all of our members.
Victoria Widdows
Director of International Legal Recruiting & Development, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & FeldVictoria oversees the full spectrum of legal talent management for the international offices of Akin Gump, from graduate recruitment through to senior lateral lawyer hiring. She steers the strategies for recruiting, on-boarding, learning & development frameworks and career progression, working alongside the hiring and managing partners. She is a founding member of the DE&I Council for the London office, working with its chairperson and wide-ranging diverse resource groups (FRGs), as a champion and ally to ensure that all legal talent processes are inclusively aligned.
Victoria is strongly committed to the legal sector being representative of today’s society by focusing on eliminating bias, increasing social mobility representation and building out mental health well-being. She has worked in people management roles at 3 leading US law firms for over 25 years and is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, a member of the Law Society Law Management Section and a certified mental health first-aider.
Laura Yeates
Senior Manager, Staff Diversity & Inclusion, Latham & WatkinsLaura’s most recent role is at Latham & Watkins as Senior Manager of Staff Diversity & Inclusion.
In her last role she spent 16 years as Head of Graduate Talent at International Law Firm Clifford Chance, where she oversaw the graduate recruitment and development teams, both of which won numerous awards for ground-breaking initiatives focused on improving access to the legal profession, innovation in the sector and tackling the stigma of mental health and sexual harassment in the workplace. She was also Co-Chair of the London Inclusion Committee.
In 2020 she founded the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance. With over eighteen years of early talent experience and five years HR experience, she is a Fellow of the CIPD, an Opinion Leader for People in Law, Steering Committee member of GROW mentoring and a member of the National Student Pride Advisory Board.
She was named LGBT+ Ally of the Year at the 2022 British LGBT+ awards and included in the Women of the Year awards 2022.
She is also a former Board Director of the Institute of Student Employers and member of the Advisory Board of The Apples & Pears Foundation.