Diversity

Ashurst brings in female quota for management roles in diversity push

By Friederike Heine | October 26, 2011

Ashurst has become the first leading UK law firm to introduce a quota for the number of women it wants to employ in management positions, with the City firm aiming to have one quarter of its management posts filled by women within the 
next three years. The target has been introduced by the Ashurst Committee, which was created at the start of 2011 by senior partner Charlie Geffen and global head of corporate Stephen Lloyd with the intention of improving the retention of female lawyers.

1 minute read

CMS sets out female promotions as key after report shows 22% partner representation

By Sofia Lind | October 19, 2011

CMS Cameron McKenna has followed Linklaters' lead and published staff diversity statistics ahead of a controversial new requirement from the Legal Services Board (LSB) that will make such reporting compulsory from December 2012. Results from the voluntary survey, which saw 50% of all UK lawyers and staff participating, indicate the firm needs to make ground with improving both racial and gender diversity in its partnership.

1 minute read

Eversheds becomes first law firm to sign up for Government gender equality scheme

By Simon Petersen | September 19, 2011

Eversheds has become the first law firm to sign up to a new voluntary gender reporting initiative launched by the Government. The top 10 UK law firm has joined Tesco and BT as the first members of the 'Think, Act, Report' initiative, which is aimed at improving transparency on gender equality issues in business.

1 minute read

McGrigors consults on overhaul of maternity and sickness policies

By Friederike Heine | September 16, 2011

McGrigors is considering a number of changes to its employee benefits system relating to the firm's maternity leave and sick pay policies. The firm is proposing the introduction of bonuses for mothers who return to work early, as well as a new policy which will allow the firm to reduce the pay of women who take a second period of maternity leave within 18 months of their last.

1 minute read

Freshfields in diversity drive across Germany and Austria offices

By Legal Week | August 31, 2011

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has rolled out a raft of new flexible working initiatives across its German and Austrian offices, alongside a renewed diversity push in the region. The 'Smart Balance' scheme, which officially went live at the end of May this year, has been launched in a bid to address individual development, flexible working and diversity and inclusion across the firm's seven offices in the region.

1 minute read

Linklaters publishes comprehensive workforce diversity statistics

By Sofia Lind | July 28, 2011

Linklaters has become one of the first major UK law firms to publish comprehensive diversity data on its website, just days after the Legal Services Board (LSB) announced that it will make such reporting compulsory as of December 2012. The statistics show that 38% of Linklaters' UK partnership were privately educated - a proportion broadly replicated across the firm's associate and trainee ranks - while a further 39% of partners went to a state or grammar school. The remainder were internationally educated, with 7% opting not to disclose.

1 minute read

Career Clinic: Has my career break made me less marketable?

By Legal Week | July 17, 2011

"I qualified in 2008 from a large regional practice in the northwest. Since then I have had a career break of three years as I had a baby. I am now trying to secure an NQ position in employment law. "Agencies refuse to take on my CV (I think because of my career break they don't see me as very marketable). I am therefore applying to firms speculatively but getting nowhere.

1 minute read

Ex-Bakers chair Lagarde becomes first-ever female IMF head

By Simon Petersen | June 29, 2011

Former Baker & McKenzie chair Christine Lagarde has been named as the first female head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Lagarde, who will begin a five-year term as IMF managing director on 5 July, spent over 20 years at Bakers, and held the role of chair between 1999 and 2004, after which she was succeeded by John Conroy.

1 minute read

Berrymans and Shoosmiths head up female-friendly partnership rankings

By Suzi Ring | June 22, 2011

Bird & Bird has emerged as the UK top 20 law firm with the largest percentage of female partners, with Hogan Lovells topping the rankings within the top 10. Legal Week research into female representation at partner level across the 50 largest UK law firms by revenue shows that, with women making up just under 23% of its partnership as at 1 May 2011, Bird & Bird is the highest placed firm within the top 20, closely followed by Berwin Leighton Paisner and Pinsent Masons.

1 minute read

Freshfields names new members to diversity committee

By Friederike Heine | June 15, 2011

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has revamped its global diversity team, appointing new members to the firmwide committee dealing with diversity and inclusion and giving a further three partners responsibility for diversity issues in London. The firm has named internal communications head Kate Laffar as leader of its global diversity and inclusion team, with London corporate head Mark Rawlinson and intellectual property partner Avril Martindale also appointed to the team from the beginning of the month (1 June).

1 minute read

Texas Lawyer

How This Texas Attorney's Bilingual Upbringing, Cuban Roots Have Been a Litigation 'Superpower'

By Dan Packel | October 15, 2021

In the last 18 months, Hogan Lovells' Miguel Zaldivar and Sidley Austin's Yvette Ostolaza have joined Hunton Andrews Kurth's Wally Martinez as leaders of Am Law 100 firms.

11 minute read

Daily Report Online

How I Made It: 'A Successful DEI Leader Is a Good Listener,' Says Tamika Walters of Burr & Forman

By Tasha Norman | October 14, 2021

"Have the courage to do things differently and take a path that diverges from the leaders who came before you. You can chart your own course, staying true to your values and your intuition. You may very well become the paradigm that someone else wants to follow."

7 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

How Lawyers Can Correct the De Facto Segregation Myth

By Susan Freeman and Gina Rubel | October 14, 2021

Neighborhood segregation resulted from racially explicit laws, regulations and government practices that created a system of urban ghettos and white suburbs that still exist today. This is opposite to the widely held de facto segregation myth that "neighborhood sorting" and "white flight" were the result of citizens having free and equal choice where they lived.

9 minute read

Corporate Counsel

In-House Leader Diversity, Already Slow to Change, Stalled in the Pandemic

By Hugo Guzman | October 13, 2021

"I think we would all acknowledge that the pace of change has not been fast enough," Home Depot deputy general counsel Peter Muniz said.

3 minute read

The American Lawyer

Burford Earmarks $100M Pot to Fund Minority- and Female-Led Cases

By Dan Packel | October 13, 2021

The Equity Project launched three years ago with $50 million to support women-led matters.

4 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Say It With Credit: One Important Way to Retain Diverse Attorneys in Big Law

By Maria Lewis and Vanessa Tabler | October 13, 2021

Big Law firms, and the legal industry generally, have long engaged in dialogue regarding diversity and the retention of diverse attorneys, yet those often well-intentioned words have not produced enough tangible results.

7 minute read

Corporate Counsel

'Comfortable Being Uncomfortable': What Legal Leaders Learned About Their Role in Racial Justice

By Trudy Knockless | October 13, 2021

"I think what a lot of us have had to do is take a couple of decades of D&I commitment and translate that into the moments of last summer," one panelist said.

6 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Canceling 'Cancel Culture'—How a Movement for Acceptance Lost Its Way

By Brian P. Seaman | October 13, 2021

Cancel culture is, however, not interested in rehabilitation or apology. Indeed, the mere act of retracting or deleting a tweet or issuing a seemingly heartfelt apology is almost never enough to stop the rising tide of condemnation.

8 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Allyship Must Be an Actionable Activity for Modern Law Firms to Thrive

By Curt Toll, Alex Scarola and Nikki Lewis Simon | October 13, 2021

Simply put, allyship, like success, does not occur in a vacuum, and its objectives are not the purview of one or two individuals, but rather requires a team approach—from hiring and integration to cultivation and advancement to social justice and civic investment decisions.

6 minute read

Law.com

How I Made It: 'A Successful DEI Leader Is a Good Listener Who Is Able to Understand Perspectives From Across the Spectrum of Job Titles and Demographics,' Says Tamika Walters, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Burr & Forman

By Tasha Norman | October 13, 2021

"Have the courage to do things differently and take a path that diverges from the leaders who came before you. You can chart your own course, staying true to your values and your intuition. You may very well become the paradigm that someone else wants to follow."

7 minute read