Leading black minority ethnic (BME) in-house counsel have called on aspiring company lawyers to use their positions to promote the diversity agenda.

Sandie Okoro, group general counsel at Baring Asset ­Management, said: ‘You have an enormous amount of influence as an in-house counsel, so get diversity on the company agenda. In the long run, it will help you win more business.’

Okoro said BME in-house counsel could also use their positions to demand greater diversity from law firms on their panels. ‘It’s easier for us to be a diversity champion,’ she added.

Gifty Edila, director of law and administration at the Royal ­Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said the private sector still had much to do to catch up with the public sector before diversity issues were properly addressed.

Okoro and Edila were speaking alongside Deepak Malhotra, general counsel of Constellation Europe, and Selva Naidu, global general counsel for Alexander Mann Solutions, at a seminar on the role of in-house lawyers run by Black Lawyers Directory, the online directory of UK BME lawyers. Magic circle firm Slaughter and May hosted the event.