Deepening diversity, equity and inclusion in SA legal industry

The South African legal profession believes that it has made progress in enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in its ranks but that there is still work to be done. With this in mind, Genesis was contracted in late 2022 to guide the South African General Counsel for Diversity and Inclusion Initiative.

This involved project management, the creation of the first set of public good toolkits, the design of an implementation plan, and the organisation and delivery of the launch event. Gail Tanner and her team at Flow Communications were pivotal in this process.

The initiative was launched on 1 June 2023 at a gala event with Justice Edwin Cameron as the keynote speaker and Genesis’ DEI expert on the project, Nene Molefi, as MC. 

The event garnered excitement about adopting DEI in the legal industry and set the stage for phase 2 of the project, which aims to expand the initiative and include more companies, law firms, legal academics and recruiters.

The South African General Counsel for Diversity and Inclusion Initiative was designed to organise and encourage South African corporates and law firms to promote greater DEI in the South African legal profession, both externally and in-house. 

It was started in late 2019 by Anglo American and a small group of like-minded co-founders including Absa, FirstRand Bank, the Industrial Development Corporation, Sasol, Standard Bank, Total and Unilever. 

The initiative was founded on the belief that diversity and inclusion creates a broader, richer working environment that adds value to organisations, the legal profession and society.