Chambers and Woodlands Meed Partnership

We are proud to partner with Woodlands Meed, a school and college for SEND students in West Sussex, providing internship and work opportunities for school leavers. The partnership originated with one of our IT Contractors, Sean McAlinden, who had delivered a presentation at the college on working in IT as an autistic person. Impressed with the students, Sean reached out to our Chief Technical Officer, James Lee, who immediately saw the potential for a mutually beneficial partnership.

As an Executive Sponsor for the Age and Disability strand of the INSPIRE Committee, Chambers internal D&I and responsible business committee, James was perfectly placed to develop the partnership and ensure we could provide a supportive and inclusive environment for interns.

The INSPIRE Committee is made up of people from across Chambers who work alongside the Executive Leadership Team, guided by the D&I team, to raise awareness of key issues, create an inclusive culture, be a soundboard for different demographics and feedback on policies and procedures. The aim is to empower people within the organisation to contribute to our culture and work with our Senior Leaders to take positive action.

With such a culture in place, the partnership developed quickly and our first intern, Elliot, is now working full-time. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Woodlands with a view to providing more opportunities in the future.