ERF Diversity & Inclusion Working Party – 2025 highlights and plans for 2026
Ana-Mari Eremieva
Dimitrov, Petrov & Co, Sofia
anamari.eremieva@dpc.bg
About the Diversity & Inclusion Working Party
The European Regional Forum D&I Working Party is one of the Forum’s five working groups and serves as a platform for exchanging views, sharing practical experience and discussing developments in diversity and inclusion. The group aims to encourage open dialogue and support more inclusive practices across the profession. All ERF members are welcome to contribute to the Working Party’s initiatives.
2025 in review
Throughout 2025, the D&I Working Party held regular monthly virtual meetings covering a wide range of diversity and inclusion topics. Discussions explored, among others, social mobility in the legal profession, age diversity and anti‑discrimination, diversity and inclusion in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, neurodiversity and neuro-inclusion, as well as comparative perspectives on D&I developments in the US. These sessions enabled the D&I group to share experience and practical solutions that can be adopted and applied within different firms and professional environments.
A key element of the D&I Working Party’s activities continues to be the IBA Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit for Lawyers. Launched in late 2023 as an ERF D&I Working Party‑led initiative, the Toolkit provides free, practical guidance to support law firms in embedding core D&I principles into their organisations. In April 2025, one of the D&I Working Party’s meetings was dedicated to reviewing the Toolkit, gathering feedback from users and discussing how it has been implemented in practice. Based on this input, and in cooperation with the IBA’s D&I Council, work is currently underway to update and expand the Toolkit in 2026.
Looking ahead – plans for 2026
In 2026, the D&I Working Party is focusing on translating discussions into practical outcomes and strengthening collaboration across the IBA. Planned initiatives include:
- knowledge sharing: by consolidating insights from 2025 into a more structured and accessible resource, we aim to make materials on topics such as neurodiversity, age diversity and social mobility available to a wider audience through the IBA website and future publications;
- collaboration with other committees: further strengthening cooperation with other IBA committees and groups on D&I‑related topics. We are open to exchange ideas and experiences with other D&I officers from different committees;
- IBA Annual Conference 2026, Copenhagen: at the IBA Annual Conference in Copenhagen (4–9 October 2026), the ERF D&I Working Party will collaborate with the ERF Professional Wellbeing Working Party on a joint session examining the links between diversity and inclusion, lawyer wellbeing and long‑term professional sustainability. The discussion will consider how inclusive working environments can support wellbeing across different stages of a legal career.
- continuation of the Toolkit project: updating the D&I Toolkit will remain a priority throughout 2026. We will continue partnering with experts and regional representatives to incorporate feedback from different jurisdictions and ensure that the Toolkit remains practical and relevant for law firms globally.
Conclusion
In 2026, the ERF Diversity & Inclusion Working Party remains committed to meaningful engagement with diversity and inclusion issues, both within the ERF and in cooperation with other parts of the IBA. ERF members are encouraged to get involved by contributing to projects or sharing their own perspectives and experience.