I recently co-wrote an article for our intranet home page with my colleague, Cleo Brant which arose from the rhetoric and actions on ED&I in the US.  

It made me reflect on how fortunate we are to be able to write articles on topics like this in the workplace. I'm acutely conscious many lawyers like me simply couldn't share an article like this without ramifications.

Sometimes we feel impotent when the issues are so big, seem overwhelming and pervasive - but simply saying we stand for something else is a step we can all take. With that in mind, I'm sharing the main part of our intranet article below.

As you know, the beginning of 2025 has brought about the inauguration of Donald Trump as the US President for a second term. Changes in political parties and politics aren’t something we would usually write about but the ED&I group is conscious that the political decisions and rhetoric in the US have been explicitly directed at ED&I programmes (known as DEI in the US) and the rights of under-represented and marginalised people. We want to reassure you that at AC we will be continuing to foster a work environment where people feel comfortable sharing their identities, faiths, and cultures without fear, and we have no plans to move away from this position. We unreservedly support the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in society, and feel passionately about the rights of all of our colleagues no matter what their background or identity.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late US Supreme Court Justice, said “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time”. 

So maybe this small step - simply saying we stand for something - can lead to enduring change.

If you have time, I'd highly recommend reading her book, My Own Words.