“At the heart of our culture lies a variety of talent and our collegial atmosphere in which different views are respected and used to find better solutions for our clients. However, we can never be complacent about diversity and inclusivity. We must ensure that we recruit the most talented people whatever their background. We need to do more to make Herbert Smith more diverse and inclusive and to recruit talented people whom we might otherwise not attract. Inclusivity is a permanent item on my agenda."
David Gold, senior partner
We believe that promoting diversity and inclusivity within Herbert Smith makes good commercial sense for our business. It is essential to creating an environment in which people with different views, experiences and backgrounds can flourish and work together to provide excellent advice and, when appropriate, innovative and creative solutions, for our clients. It is also increasingly vital as our clients and staff become more diverse, and our work more global.
We recognise that a culture of fairness, equality of opportunity and inclusivity, is important to retaining, and developing, many of the talented people who already work here, and whom we are keen to recruit in the future. It will also help us to attract a more diverse range of people to the firm.
Our approach to inclusivity is guided by our values, our commitment to corporate responsibility and our desire to help people, both within the firm and outside, fulfil their potential. For this reason we concentrate our resources on promoting inclusivity amongst our staff and, externally, to help widen our recruitment pool and more generally as part of our commitment to making a positive impact on society.
In 2003 we established an inclusivity group that includes seven partners to set and drive forward our inclusivity agenda. A year later we undertook an internal survey to understand more about the issues. This year we have set up a pilot support group to promote flexible working.
Please see our equal opportunities policy and find out more about how we are promoting inclusivity within the firm and our external initiatives.