Spotlight on People

2028 Ambitions

2025/26 Goals
Progress
Provide transparent and equitable promotion practices globally, supported by ongoing actions to reduce barriers to progression and leverage CRS business school programmes that enhance access to development and career opportunities.
On track
Strengthen gender disaggregated promotion data to monitor alignment between promotion outcomes and the eligible talent pool. Where material variances arise, review underlying drivers and use the insights to inform future promotion practices.
On track
Build on our voluntary pay gap reporting and report on our Socio-Economic Pay Gap. Use our pay gap reporting to understand and agree actions to narrow the gaps where possible.
On track
Integrate specific questions on firm culture into the firm’s Wellbeing and other people surveys to assess inclusiveness and disaggregate responses by diversity to spot, interrogate and address any problematic patterns identified.
On track
Monitor retention across our early career talent pipeline to assess outcomes relative to the diversity of our intake cohorts. Use insights from this analysis to strengthen inclusion, development and retention initiatives.
On track
Embed a best practice Wellbeing Strategy that fosters a supportive, inclusive and healthy work environment.
On track
Conduct a baseline survey to understand employees’ needs and requirements: mental, physical, emotional and financial. Use qualitative and quantitative data to ensure our wellbeing strategy is informed by both the experiences and perspectives of our people and recognises the pressures of working in a law firm.
On track
Build on our work on workplace reasonable adjustments and work to continuously improve accessibility and inclusion for clients, colleagues and candidates with disabilities, whilst also progressing towards achieving Disability Confident accreditation to further demonstrate our commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for disabled individuals.
Needs attention
Educate our people on disability and neurodiversity, ensuring relevance across all roles. Establish a feedback mechanism and a platform for sharing best practices, fostering a culture of continuous learning in this area for our people.
Needs attention

Performance built around people

At Charles Russell Speechlys, nurturing and developing our people and sustaining high performance go hand in hand.

We know that attracting and retaining the best people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives drives innovation, creativity and better outcomes for our clients. Our Top 75 ranking in the 2025 Social Mobility Index, our fourth consecutive Gold Award in the 2025 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, and our A* and A grades across the board in the Legal Cheek Insider Scorecard, reflect our commitment to creating a workplace where our people can thrive and deliver their best work.

Wherever possible we are collecting, analysing and using data to inform our People and DEI strategies. This data-led approach is helping us to reduce unintended bias in decision making and to achieve greater consistency and transparency in how we manage performance, work allocation and progression – in turn strengthening our culture of fairness and inclusion.

Also central to our approach is investing in building the capability of our leaders and future leaders, supporting them to model our values and behaviours, create an inclusive team environment and encourage constructive challenge.

We also recognise that we have a duty, as a responsible business in an industry where high standards and pressure to deliver are features of daily life, to support the long-term health of our people. We are therefore working hard to embed Wellbeing in our performance culture, through thoughtful leadership, effective supervision, realistic expectations and practical tools and resources available to all our people to build healthy ways of working and enhance resilience.

Looking ahead, we will continue to analyse the findings of our Wellbeing survey and listen closely to our people, using these insights to guide data-driven decisions that support our workforce and enhance the service we deliver to our clients over the long term.

You can read more about our People and DEI strategies, initiatives, networks and the impact we are having in the dedicated, Our People chapter of this Annual Review.

Women in Leadership: Advancing inclusivity worldwide

In 2025, our Women in Leadership network expanded from a UK-led initiative to a truly international programme. Supported by increased investment and strong local partner engagement in Asia and the Southwest of England, the network has grown from its origins in our Corporate and Business Advisory teams to encompass all divisions of our Firm.

A programme of high-profile and regionally delivered events has been central to achieving this growth. Highlights from last year include a flagship event in partnership with the Schools Consent Project, featuring a screening of Prima Facie at the National Theatre, followed by networking; a Women in Family Offices breakfast aligned to our inaugural Family Office conference which took place in October 2025; and the launch of our first Women In Leadership event in Guildford. Following the success of the Women in Family Offices breakfast, our Geneva office will be bringing the concept to their network in March 2026. Our Construction, Real Estate & Disputes and Banking & Finance teams will also be hosting an event in collaboration with Ladies in Real Estate.

Alongside this external engagement, our network has strengthened its internal focus by launching a ‘Next-Gen’ event to connect junior women across our Firm, promote mentoring, and raise awareness of development opportunities.

Reflecting the growing profile of women across the Firm, two partners from our CRED team were also shortlisted for the Women in Property Awards during the year. Kim Lalli was nominated for "Leader of the Year – Financial and Professional Services" and Emma Humphreys was nominated for "Woman of the Year – Financial and Professional Services". Additionally, Sarah Wigington and Grace Hudson will also be heading to the annual IBA Women Lawyers conference in Lisbon this year to further develop the international reach of our network.

2026/27 Responsible Business People goals include:

  • Analysing data on application to interview, interview to offer, and promotion rates for Black, Minority Ethnic and White groups to identify, interrogate and remove any relevant barriers identified.
  • Preparing a report on firm culture drawing together the responses from the Wellbeing Survey and Speak Up, sharing recommendations with leaders.
  • Refreshing our external recruitment guidance to ensure candidates and recruitment partners understand and share our commitment to DEI.
  • Conducting a review of external benchmarking partners and considering applicability to the global firm.
  • Reviewing support for underrepresented groups on our Early Talent programmes.
  • Strengthening mental health awareness across the global workforce by improving access to education, guidance and support, helping people recognise risks early and seek support when needed.
  • Working with relevant partners to strengthen support for trainees and apprentices, focusing specifically on identifying need for early intervention.

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