American-British Big Law firm Hogan Lovells announced new targets for diversity and inclusion (D&I) in its global partnerships on Monday.
By 2025, the firm aims for its partnerships in the US and the UK to comprise 15% ethnic minority partners and 4% LGBTQ+ partners. At present in these region, 11% of Hogan Lovells’s partners are from ethnic minority backgrounds and 3% are LGBTQ+.
The firm’s previously established gender target of having 30% female partners worldwide by 2022, a ten-year goal set in 2012, remains in place. Currently, 26% of Hogan Lovells partners are female.
“Hogan Lovells is committed to increasing diversity throughout our firm and at the highest ranks,” said Susan Bright, the firm’s global managing partner for D&I and respectable business. “Being transparent about our goals plays a key part in demonstrating this commitment and in holding ourselves to account. This is a core part of our strategy to create and maintain a diverse and inclusive working environment where all of our people can be themselves and feel empowered to succeed.”
Bright has led the firm’s new diversity initiative after her appointment as D&I head by CEO Miguel Zaldivar in July. She added: “We recognise that diversity of thought creates better teams, and better teams mean better results for each other and for our clients. We plan to achieve these goals through an intense focus on recruiting, recognising, retaining and advancing our diverse talent.”
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Hogan Lovells employs over 2,600 attorneys and is the fifth largest firm in the US by headcount, according to the National Law Journal. Its new diversity targets follow commitments from a number of other law firms to improve diversity among their staff; last month Herbert Smith Freehills announced that it intended for 10% of its London partners to be from ethnic minority backgrounds by 2025.