Ensuring inclusion is at the centre of our business

Our people are at the heart of everything we do and creating a diverse and truly inclusive workplace will ensure that we continue to attract, develop and retain first-class talent to provide the best solutions for our clients.

To ensure real impact, however, diversity and inclusion (D&I) must be driven from the top, woven deeply into our business, with support and accountability in place. Our Managing and Senior Partners have made clear that this is an ethical and commercial imperative for the Firm, incorporating a diversity target – 35% women in our partnership by 2024 – into the Firm’s core strategy. The past year has brought about significant challenges and difficult circumstances. Yet it has also brought about innovative ideas and positive changes to the way in which we work and interact with our clients, colleagues and candidates that make for an even more inclusive environment. For example, the benefits of being able to offer more virtual interaction between our colleagues and student-candidate population has encouraged participation from a much more diverse group. We recognise the changes to the way we work as another of the positive changes that has evolved. While our clients’ needs will always come first, we are looking at how we can best incorporate a more agile way of working as part of the ‘new normal’ going forward. We cannot reflect on the past year without acknowledging the impact that it has had on our mental health and wellbeing. We continue to review and enhance the support we provide for our staff. As a signatory to the Mindful Business Charter, we will work with our colleagues to identify and remove unnecessary workplaces stresses. Finally, it has been fantastic to see the launch of the Charles Russell Speechlys Business School. The School offers first-class training, coaching, leadership-development programmes for everyone in the Firm, with a focused female leadership development programme and it’s been great to see such a high level of take up from the outset.