Interview - Michael Webster

An interview with Michael Webster, Co-Founder of Webster Dixon LLP

You co-founded Webster-Dixon, one of the most established minority-owned firms in the City. Why did you decide to strike out on your own and start your own firm?

Both I and Dawn Dixon were junior partners at other English law-firms. We both made partner at relatively young ages: I at 29 and Dawn at 27. We felt that because we had made partner so early in our careers we could harness our abilities and create a new type of firm, which we did in January of 1998.

What are the advantages of being one of the few black-owned firms in the City?
What can people expect to get from your firm that they can't get elsewhere?

First and foremost, we live in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world: London. One key reason that London won its bid for the 2012 Olympics was because of its international heritage and diversity. This firm is a mirror image of that cultural mix and diversity that helped London clench the 2012 games.

We believe that our firm is the template for the future: a firm that is culturally diverse where we encourage diversity: We respect and highlight those things that make us different, and that brings more to the table when advising clients and building a practice. This gives us a competitive advantage in tendering work within the London area or in representing foreign clients and institutions. We have the complete mix from African-Caribbean, British, Asian, and European heritages.

Some have advocated that larger corporate firms should team up with smaller minority-owned firms regarding issues of diversity. Do you think this could be beneficial to British firms?

From my own knowledge I haven’t seen any large firms in the City combining with a smaller firm in order to pitch for work. I’m afraid I haven’t seen any examples of this in the UK.

In theory, this could be one of a number of initiatives that could be implemented in order to create opportunities for minority lawyers and minority-owned firms. But teaming up with minority firms doesn’t solve the problem of the homogenous nature of City firms. Businesses in the City need to expand the net for recruitment of ethnic minority graduates, possibly by looking at a larger number of universities that have a relatively higher minority intake. I believe that diversity should be an integral part of any business plan and requires leadership from managers and partners. This requires a top-down approach.

You've done considerable work for diversity in both the UK and the US. What are the main differences between discussions/work around diversity in both countries? Where does the UK stand in relation to the US?

The US has been dealing with this issue of diversity longer than the UK. The US recently celebrated 50 years of Brown v. Board of Education. They’ve had 50 years of this debate. I would argue that the debate itself in the UK, in terms of diversity, has only picked up in the last five years.

The legislative framework is completely different. Whereas the US implements affirmative-action policies, we have the Race Relations Amendment Act, which is aimed to ensure that public bodies ensure equal opportunities for all, particularly with regard to race. The effect of that legislation is only now beginning to be felt.

But I believe we can learn from the experience in the US, and I believe that Britain has the potential to do better more quickly, provided we look for outcomes and not just policies. The outcomes are the most important; the number of lawyers from ethnic minority communities are nearly already there.

Once we get a critical mass of people making partnership at large firms or large corporations, then there will be a pathway along which others are likely to follow in the future. At the moment, many young lawyers perceive that a pathway forward doesn’t exist.

Why did you decide to start the Diversity League Table?
What were you hoping to accomplish?

The Black Solicitors Network had anecdotal evidence that our members were not progressing as well as their counterparts within the law firms. We were concerned about the lack of empirical data, so we wanted to collect concrete evidence and compare that to what our members were telling us. We also wanted to highlight the lack of diversity within law firms and get them thinking about these issues, as it simply may not have been on their “radar.” Thirdly, we wanted firms to create policies that produce tangible outcomes that would allow for greater diversity within their workforces. And we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished. The DLT received an award from the Commission for Racial Equality and the Law Society for our outstanding contribution to racial equality within in the legal profession.

I know that you're doing the DLT again for a second time this year. Do you expect anything will have changed? If so, what?

First, we’ve expanded the survey to include the London offices of 30 US firms; they may not necessarily be categorized among the top 100 UK firms, but these firms have an established presence in the UK. We wanted to see how the US policies regarding diversity fared in the UK and whether they had “transported” these initiatives successfully.

We also anticipate a greater response rate among UK firms. We hope both the numbers of respondents and the diversity statistics will increase, but we will have to wait until the final results are published in May of this year.

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