Clifford Chance

The goal of inclusion in our firm is to deliver an equal experience and opportunity for all of us. If people perceive inclusion to be about someone else, or somewhere else, then it is not delivering on that goal.

It is something that we believe is a core value of the firm and our commitment to our people, a core value of the law, and an essential ingredient in our collective success as a firm. It is not a luxury item we wheel out for special days nor is it something that sits anywhere on the political spectrum. It is for everyone. It is about building a culture where we are treated with the respect and dignity that each of us deserve knowing that when we build that culture we will deliver an experience that we can all enjoy and thrive in. As a firm our commitment is that we will continue to change the rules, change the culture and change the lived experience to deliver that inclusive experience that everyone is entitled to.

The great news is that people in the firm agree with that in huge numbers. 86% of our people agreed that the firm values inclusion in our most recent global engagement survey.

That awesome level of support was made clearly visible throughout the year by so many of our people across the firm as they built inclusion campaigns that brought us together and brought life to our values. The #Wethe15 and #PurpleLightUp campaigns by our Enable network, the launch of our REACH network in Continental Europe, our #ChooseToChallenge campaign for gender equality, the wonderful images from Wear it Pink for LGBT+ equality in Asia-Pacific, the brilliant program of events to mark Black History Month by the UK REACH network and so many more helped build and sustain our culture. 

These campaigns are not incidental moments, luxury items or distractions from our work or our culture. They are the essential building blocks of inclusion and our culture. Our culture is not something that just happens – it has to be built, campaigned for and championed at all times. 

Inclusion is not inevitable nor is it even likely unless each of us plays our part in making that happen. That campaigning was all the more needed and impressive as so many of us faced another year where we were working apart from each other. To all those who have done so much to devise, build or attend all those campaigns and countless event I say thank you – they are the reason we have such levels of support for inclusion.

With such high levels of support for inclusion from our people our next step is to help each of us become great ambassadors for it. Each of us are campaigners for our values every day in how we engage with others and the example we set. If we only silently support inclusion in our head then it is a secret that no one else knows and brings about no positive change. You cannot expect people to presume you have a set of values when life outside our offices has taught people to presume the opposite may be true. Each of us must demonstrate these values because no one is a better ambassador for your values than you. 

Our 2021 Inclusion Report celebrates a tiny fraction of the amazing people in our firm who have been demonstrating their values. I hope you enjoy reading about our friends and colleagues and I hope you take as much inspiration from them as I do every day. 

Like I said, inclusion is for everyone, but it will also take all of us to make it happen.

Enjoy their stories.