November 2, 2017 (LONDON) – Associate Ofei Kwafo-Akoto has been named a finalist for the UK Diversity Legal Awards 2017 in the category of Black Solicitors Network Rising Star.

The UK Diversity Legal Awards were founded in 2009 to showcase and celebrate exceptional work by individuals and organizations to engender greater diversity in the legal profession. The awards are an initiative of the Black Solicitors Network (BSN), committed to achieving equality of access, retention and promotion of black solicitors.

Ofei has been involved with BSN since 2009, and serves as a committee member of the BSN City Group. He is also active in BSN’s Creating Pathways program, an initiative aimed at developing and promoting mentoring relationships between senior lawyers and mid-level Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) lawyers in private practice and in-house. 

“It is crucial that BAME lawyers do not simply represent a minority statistic, but that we do all we can to promote and support diversity in the profession,” says Ofei. “While the profession is increasingly diverse at the entry level, there are still significant challenges in terms of associate attrition rates and representation at more senior levels.”

Ofei supports the work of BSN because he says it is about more than statistics. “BSN is an organization that tackles the concerns of minority lawyers, encourages change-makers and promotes an industry-wide message that aspiring minority lawyers have a credible and attainable path to the highest and most prestigious levels of the legal profession in the UK.”

Ofei notes that he has seen first-hand the ways in which BSN is able to directly effect change in the profession while promoting its message that diversity matters. “It is important that qualified BAME lawyers act as champions of diversity and draw on the support of organizations such as BSN,” he says.