Diversity and inclusion is an integral part of our people strategy, which is endorsed and regularly reviewed by our Partnership Board and sponsored by Gillian Carty, our Partnership Chair.
Through our various network groups, we are working to embed diversity and inclusion across the firm, and to ensure it is at the heart of our culture. We are committed to providing a supportive, inclusive and high-performance environment where we celebrate and respect diversity, and all colleagues’ contributions are valued.
In 2023, the firm was named Diversity and Inclusion Champion (250+ employees) at The Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards. We were commended for taking ‘great strides in promoting social mobility, achieving greater gender diversity, supporting LGBTQ colleagues, younger employees and creating greater awareness on disability and racial inclusion’.
Some of our current accreditations, achievements and activities include:
Gender
Our gender pay gap is improving year-on-year and continues to be a key area of focus, you can view our latest report, covering 2023-2024, here. We review and update our family-friendly and wellbeing policies regularly to ensure they continue to meet the changing needs of colleagues. In addition, we have enhanced our shared parental leave and maternity leave policies and recently introduced a Menopause Policy.
We also run an Emerging Leaders Programme and offer mentoring to help colleagues secure promoted roles within the business. Female employees account for more than 55% of the delegates on the Emerging Leaders Programme.
Race, Faith and Belief
We are:
- a signatory to the Race Fairness Commitment;
- a member of Legal CORE, a collaboration which aims to tackle the underrepresentation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in the legal sector; and
- supporting the 10,000 Black interns programme and Black Professionals Scotland to facilitate the introduction of new interns to the firm.
LGBTA+
We are:
- part of The Glass Network, a group for LGBT+ and allied legal professionals in Scotland; and
- supporting LGBT Youth Scotland.
Social Mobility
We are:
- ranked 31st in the Social Mobility Employer Index 2023;
- a signatory to the Social Mobility Pledge;
- a founding member of the PRIME initiative, supporting placements for pupils who are less likely to secure legal work experience;
- using the RARE contextualised recruitment system, ensuring we recognise the context of applicants’ achievements to widen access to the legal sector ;
- offering diploma funding and maintenance allowances for incoming trainees;
- supporting the LawScot Foundation.
Disability inclusion
We are:
- training mental health first aiders, who are providing local support across each of our offices;
- a signatory to the Mindful Business Charter;
- recognised as a Disability Confident Employer, and have been since 2015, supporting disabled colleagues and applicants and guaranteeing interviews for anyone who meets our minimum selection criteria; and
- providing an Employee Assistance Programme for all our colleagues, offering 24/7 access to trained mental health counsellors.
Young People
We have been accredited by Investors in People since 2005. We currently hold an Investors in Young People Gold Standard accreditation in addition to our Investors in People Platinum accreditation (the highest attainable accreditation in each category).
We have developed a Young Person’s Strategy to ensure young people are fully engaged in our business and are given the opportunity to develop and fulfil their potential
