Capsticks partners again with 10,000 Interns Foundation to offer paid internships.
- This year’s programme welcomes four interns to diverse teams across the UK.
- Capsticks’ CREATE network champions cultural and racial diversity initiatives.
- Past internship and mentoring schemes aim to enhance racial equity and inclusion.
- Future initiatives target legal career accessibility for youth from all backgrounds.
Capsticks has renewed its collaboration with the 10,000 Interns Foundation for the second consecutive year, engaging in their notable programme ‘10,000 Black Interns’. The initiative appoints interns for a six-week remunerated period. In this year’s cohort, Capsticks has welcomed four interns distributed across various teams: Rudo Ushewokunze and Enoch Sakyiama joining in Leeds, Emmanuel Edwards in London, and Tumi Mayowa-Peters joining the Central Business Services team.
The profiles of the selected interns illustrate a diverse array of academic backgrounds. Rudo Ushewokunze, with a postgraduate LLM degree from the University of Law and an undergraduate degree from Newcastle University, alongside Enoch Sakyiama, an MSc graduate from the same institution and an LLB from Nottingham Trent University, are placed in the Leeds team. Emmanuel Edwards, in his final year studying politics and international relations at the University of Manchester, joins the London team. Tumi Mayowa-Peters, a first-year student of politics and international relations at the University of London, marks the firm’s inaugural cross-team Central Business Services internship.
Martin Hamilton, the managing partner, expressed enthusiasm about this continued partnership with the 10,000 Interns Foundation, emphasising its importance in fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment at Capsticks. Hamilton said, “I’m really pleased that we’re partnering again with the 10,000 Interns Foundation – our partnership is important to making Capsticks an ever more diverse and inclusive place to work and improve further our recruitment and retention of global majority candidates and colleagues.”
The initiative has been greatly supported by Capsticks’ internal group, CREATE (Capsticks, race, ethnicity, allies, traditions, and equity), which plays a substantial role within the firm by promoting awareness and understanding of cultural and racial diversity. Marsha Thompson, partner and co-chair of CREATE, remarked on the programme’s significance: “CREATE was established to provide a supportive community to celebrate and raise awareness of cultural and racial diversity at Capsticks, and to work with senior leadership to champion change.”
Capsticks’ commitment to diversity is further reflected in their previous six-month reciprocal mentoring programme, which concluded recently. This programme was designed to foster racial equity and inclusion by pairing mentors of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The mentor pairs engaged in meetings throughout the six-month duration, culminating in concrete commitments by all partners towards racial equity.
Following the internship programme, Capsticks is set to introduce a new group of apprentices in September. Their collaboration continues with the Ahead Partnership, which seeks to engage school-aged children with the prospects of a career in law. This initiative is part of Capsticks’ broader aim to provide accessible legal career paths for young individuals, irrespective of their background.
Capsticks’ ongoing efforts underscore its dedication to diversity, inclusion, and accessible career pathways in the legal sector.
