Shoosmiths tops diversity rankings as Black Solicitors Network reveals league table
Shoosmiths has been named as the UK's most diverse law firm according to this year's Black Solicitors Network (BSN) Diversity League Table. The ranking combines law firm demographics across four different strands of diversity - disability, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation - with policy and practice information at the firms also being taken into consideration. In total, 44 law firms in the UK took part in the report.
November 15, 2011 at 06:12 AM
3 minute read
Shoosmiths has been named as the UK's most diverse law firm according to this year's Black Solicitors Network (BSN) Diversity League Table.
The ranking combines law firm demographics across four different strands of diversity – disability, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation – with policy and practice information at the firms also being taken into consideration. In total, 44 law firms in the UK took part in the report.
Linklaters was ranked as the second most diverse law firm overall, with the UK operations of O'Melveny & Myers, Baker & McKenzie and Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker making up the rest of the top five.
The rest of the magic circle ranked lower, with Allen & Overy (A&O) and Clifford Chance (CC) ranking 17th and 29th respectively. Freshfields Brukhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May did not take part.
Both Shoosmiths and Linklaters have seen their scores boosted through the strength of their diversity policies -ranked by demographics alone, the pair rank 4th and 13th place respectively.
Based on demographics alone, O'Melveny came in first, with Russell Jones & Walker, Midlands-based Flint Bishop, Shoosmiths and Hertfordshire-based Matthew Arnold & Baldwin making up the rest of the top five.
O'Melveny also heads the table by percentage of ethnic minority partners with 29% of its UK partnership being made up of black and ethnic minority lawyers. Arnold & Porter and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are second and third placed in this category with 12% and 10% of their partnerships respectively being from ethnic minorities.
The large City firms have a significantly lower proportion of ethnic minority partners, with Norton Rose and A&O at 7%, CC at 5% and Herbert Smith at 4%. Both McGrigors and Withers do not have a single ethnic minority partner.
Bakers employment partner and diversity chair Sarah Gregory said: "It's encouraging to see that this year's Diversity League Table continues to show that the legal profession as a whole is taking diversity more seriously. However, it is clear that we all still have some way to go.
"We're looking forward to the inclusion of social mobility in next year's table because this is another area that is a particular challenge for law firms and having hard measurements will help. Baker & McKenzie has participated in the table since its inception in 2006 and we are delighted to be ranked in the Top 10 for the third year running."
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