Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2019 Edition

FEB 2019 16 Special Feature www. lawyer-monthly .com Pinsent Masons Named the UK’S Most Inclusive LGBT Employer Stonewall, the lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality charity, listed 16 legal firms in its Top 100 LGBT-inclusive employers list earlier this month. The highest entry comes from Pinsent Masons, which has been named the most inclusive employer in the UK in this year’s Index. The firm has continued to build on its previous strong performance, landing in position two for the last two years, and is now top of its sector, overall, and is one of the UK’s leading trans-inclusive employers. Thefirmdemonstrateda rangeof inclusive policies and practices for lesbian, gay and bi staff, and has introduced specific trans- inclusive staff training to create a welcoming environment for trans colleagues, clients and visitors. Pinsent Masons have also been actively involved in championing LGBT equality across the UK, including supporting the campaign for marriage equality in Northern Ireland and working with school partners to build inclusive learning environments for young people. Speaking to Kate Fergusson, Head of Responsible Business at Pinsent Masons, she reveals the policies the firm integrated for the LGBT+ community. “We have taken the approach that all of our policies and processes should be inclusive, we want our people to know that we value diversity and that they can be themselves at work. This can’t just be a box ticking exercise, it has to be embedded in to our culture so it becomes business as usual.” Every little counts, as Kate explains that this policy extended to all areas: “This has meant reviewing the language we use to ensure, for example, our family policies are inclusive of same sex parents and our dress code is respectful in terms of gender identity and expression. “We take this seriously and so our LGBT+ network members are often consulted and act as a sound board when our HR policies are reviewed or new policies implemented: they offer feedback and amendments which give us a really good steer.” Pinsent Masons was also the first in the legal sector to work with Stonewall and featured in the charity’s annual review in 2008. But were there challenges the firm faced when trying to champion change in this area, perhaps when first starting to implement changes? “I think we were in a fairly good position in that we have had senior level support to enable us to start implementing change”, explains Kate. But such an achievement obviously presented some issues, which Pinsent Masons managed to work around: “However, there are, of course,