Kingsley Napley are proud that partner Shannett Thompson and Chair of the firm’s BAME & Allies Network today won Outstanding Contribution (Private Practice) in the Chambers Europe Awards 2021.
Shannett, who is a member of the firm’s Regulatory practice specialising in the healthcare sector, was instrumental in Kingsley Napley’s early support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
She also led the firm’s involvement in the following initiatives in the last year:
- Firmwide discussion on issues ethnic minority people face at work, internal screening of a film about the killing of Mark Duggan and creation of a Book Club designed to be an open and safe discussion network;
- Over £10k raised / donated to race-related charities thanks to #KNCReW sporting fundraiser In support of “Show Racism the Red Card” and a diversity book drive to fundraise for more representative and inclusive books for local primary schools;
- KN’s signing up to the #10000BlackInterns scheme to offer two paid work experience opportunities to black students in summer 2022 and for the next five years;
- Worked with HR to support their redesign of KN’s trainee recruitment process as a result of which applications from BAME trainee candidates significantly increased and 50% of the candidates offered trainee contracts in 2021 were from candidates with a BAME background;
- Talks to several clients showcasing KN’s anti-racism response;
- Driver behind KN’s recent adoption of the Halo Code which protects employees from judgement or discrimination about hairstyles associated with racial, ethnic, religious and cultural identities;
- Podcasts about recruitment, micro-aggressions in the workplace and other issues affecting people from ethnic minorities.
Stephen Parkinson, Senior Partner of Kingsley Napley, comments:
“I am delighted that Shannett’s brilliant contribution to promoting diversity has been recognised. Shannett’s energy, charismatic leadership and powerful advocacy have delivered outstanding results, including a sharp rise in training applications to our firm from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates. Alongside this, D&I group membership and employee engagement with anti-racism has grown significantly within Kingsley Napley during the last year.
“Thanks to Shannett KNers feel better informed about race issues and have raised significant sums for anti-racism charities. Clients are learning from her too. Shannett is also a great supporter of other D&I areas such as social mobility and LGBT and all this whilst being a busy healthcare regulatory partner is impressive.”
Shannett joined Kingsley Napley in 2011 and became a partner in 2020. She is the firm’s third black partner. She recently featured in these interviews about her background and path to becoming a lawyer in legal women and also spoke on How to Become Partner at a Top 200 Law Firm to help encourage others from diverse backgrounds to consider a career in law.
To interview Shannett or find out more about her work or D&I related activities at Kingsley Napley, please contact: Louise Beeson, Bell Yard Communications Louise@bell-yard.com / 07768 956997 or BellYard@bell-yard.com
Notes to Editors
About Kingsley Napley
Kingsley Napley is a law firm providing advice to individuals and businesses in the following areas: employment law, private client advisory, public law, criminal defence litigation, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution, family law, medical negligence & personal injury, regulatory, real estate, construction and immigration.
Kingsley Napley ranked 26th in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For 2020 list and ranked 73 in The Lawyer’s Top 200 UK Law Firms 2020 list by revenue.
For more information about Kingsley Napley, please visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk
For more information about Kingsley Napley’s commitment to Diversity & Inclusion see here.
About the Chambers D&I awards 2021
The awards recognise pre-eminence in Diversity & Inclusion across a number of categories and jurisdictions in Europe. The judges looked for achievements over the past 12 months including outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service based on their own industry research. Kingsley Napley was also shortlisted in the Outstanding firm for Diversity & Inclusion category. For more information see https://chambers.com/events/chambers-europe-awards-2021
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