People: Diversity

We can't compromise on talent. To do the best work for our clients we have to invest in the most capable, adaptable and commercially astute team players we can find, from all types of background.

Diversity

Despite difficult market conditions, the firm continues its determination to be the leader of an elite group of international law firms. Clifford Chance’s international ambitions were furthered in 2008/09: the firm secured a licence to practise local law in Singapore, established a relationship with AZB & Partners in India, opened offices in Kyiv and Abu Dhabi, completed a full merger with Badea Asociatii in Bucharest, and continued to grow our Knowledge Centre and our Global Shared Service Centre in India.

The increasingly international nature of teamwork with colleagues and with clients means that every member of the firm needs not just to appreciate diverse cultures and backgrounds, but adapt behaviours and advice accordingly. This is one reason why the London office pioneered an online diversity training programme in 2008/09.

How are we bringing more women into the partnership?

The gender balance among our partners is still not where we want it to be. In many of our offices, women now outnumber men in our graduate intake, and at associate lawyer level. But at partner level, the proportion of women remains lower. There are regional variations – in Asia, for example, the figure is 25% – but across the firm the average is 15%. See full data table in Gender statistics.

This is not for want of initiatives to support change and to support our women lawyers: the firm has internal women’s networks and programmes, participates in cross-firm networks and initiatives, diversity charters at global and national levels, mentoring programmes, maternity coaching and flexible working policies. However, the firm needs to continue to strive for a better balance in the partnership by examining statistics around hiring, retention and progression and to regularly highlight the information for all decision-makers in the firm.

Additionally, initiatives such as the integration of the bi-level lawyers’ development programmes into a single programme with increased post-course followup and the harmonisation of lawyer appraisal forms globally support these aims, as they will give the firm better transparency and accountability on gender progression issues.

Gender representation in the partnership is a key focus of management. The Management Committee has agreed that the aim of the partnership should be to get to a position where at least 30% of our partners are female. A principal step in meeting this goal will be the Management Committee’s review of proposed partner candidate promotion as compared to the corresponding associate gender representation of the underlying group and office. This will be a regular agenda item for the Management Committee.