"We have made some real progress in raising awareness of diversity across the firm. With this recognition and commitment now in place, our focus is on taking action that demonstrably enhances our culture of diversity."
Martina Asmar, partner and chairman, inclusivity group
Our inclusivity group was established in 2003 to embed diversity and inclusivity into the infrastructure of the firm, and to promote initiatives designed to address issues facing particular groups who are under-represented across the firm, or at certain levels within it. To help set the agenda an internal survey covering a range of diversity issues was commissioned from Pearn Kandola in 2004 – nearly 60% of our London workforce participated and the results of the survey, and associated focus groups, were published internally.
The group consists of seven partners including the chief operating officer. It meets on a monthly basis, and is accountable to the executive committee, which is chaired by the senior partner. It also works to ensure that we are active members of relevant external bodies and networking groups including Opportunity Now, a business-led organisation committed to tackling the barriers to women’s progress in the workplace, and encouraging an inclusive culture. We are participating in the 2005 Opportunity Now Benchmarking Survey, and provide Opportunity Now members with a quarterly legal update covering diversity issues.
We are also members of the Employers Forum for Age, Working Families and are working on a pilot project for law firms with the London Development Agency’s Diversity Works for London campaign. In addition we contribute to the Law Society’s City Firms Equality and Diversity Forum, and are participating in the Black Solicitors Network’s research programme supported by the Commission for Racial Equality.