From running the successful marriage equality campaigns in Ireland and Australia to becoming Clifford Chance's Global Director of Inclusion, Tiernan Brady discusses the importance of 'Leading by Learning' with PurpleSpace's Director of Networkology and Strategy, Brendan Roach, and Marketing and Communications Officer, Lauren Pemberton-Nelson, in PurpleSpace's latest 'Spotlight on' interview. He articulates the importance of understanding the lived experiences of colleagues and allowing individuals to 'see' someone, not the process or barriers they are faced with, and the important work the Firm is doing to grow and raise awareness of its disability network, Enable.
Watch the interview now, as they discuss:
- How Clifford Chance has embraced the PurpleLightUp movement and why it resonates so much with the Firm.
- How the Enable Network will be expanding its global approach in 2021
- Valuable leadership lessons that Tiernan has learned
This Spotlight On interview has something to offer all network/resource group leaders, as well as those looking to drive positive change.
Tiernan is the Global Director of Inclusion for Clifford Chance. He is an equality campaigner and was the Political Director of the successful Irish referendum campaign for marriage equality which saw Ireland become the first country in the world to introduce marriage equality by a public vote. He subsequently became the Executive Director of The Equality Campaign, the successful Australian public vote campaign for marriage equality. They remain the only two countries in the world to have introduced marriage equality through a public vote. He is the Director of Equal Future, a global campaign working with LGBT faith groups to deliver equality and served as Policy Director of GLEN – The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network in Ireland. He was the Director of Gay HIV Strategies where he designed and launched KnowNow, Ireland's first free community based rapid HIV testing program. He served as Director of Organisation to the then Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) of Ireland, Mary Coughlan as well as serving two terms as Mayor of his home town of Bundoran in Ireland.
Clifford Chance Factbox:
- Clifford Chance’s roots originate from the 1800s, but the firm was formed in 1987 when two successful London firms, Coward Chance and Clifford Turner merged to form the pre-eminent law firm in Europe. In 2000, Clifford Chance undertook a major international tripartite merger with Germany's Pünder Volhard Weber & Axster and New York-based Rogers & Wells. The combination of the three firms' geographic footprint and breadth of expertise created the world's first global law firm. To this day, Clifford Chance remains the only non-franchise law firm with real breadth and depth of expertise across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East.
- Clifford Chance's affinity groups comprise, gender parity (Accelerate>>>), LGBT+ (Arcus), ethnicity (REACH) and disability (Enable). More detail about them can be found here.
- In December 2020, Clifford Chance's disability network rebranded from the Disability Action Group to Enable, with an aim to support colleagues with a disability, long term injury or condition, or workplace adjustment to thrive at Clifford Chance, and to provide a safe, inclusive and open environment for them to share their lived experience. Creating a safe, inclusive and open environment for colleagues remains at the heart of the Firm's strategy and its seeks to celebrate role models, educate colleagues on visible and non-visible disabilities, workplace adjustments and support, and understand the diversity of working needs. More detail about Enable can be found here.
- Clifford Chance is a signatory of the Valuable 500 and the UK government's Disability Confident scheme, where the Firm has so far achieved Disability Confident Committed, Level 1, helping it to drive disability inclusion and improve how it attracts, recruits and retains disabled workers.
- Clifford Chance has gained a lot of recognition for its diversity and inclusion work. Some examples include:
- Winners of The Law Society 'Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion' Award 2020
- Won Outstanding D&I Practices in Procurement Teams Award at CIPS Awards 2020
- Ranked as One of Europe’s most inclusive companies in Financial Times Diversity Leaders List
- Three wins for UK Graduate Recruitment team at the 2020 TARGETjobs awards in recognition of its groundbreaking programmes including ACCESS, ACCEPT, IGNITE, LIFT, SPARK and global virtual internships
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