Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is set to roll out a firmwide diversity initiative aimed at boosting the number of female lawyers making partner at the firm.

Over the past year, the firm has been working with Wanda Wallace, the CEO of US consultancy Leadership Forum, to develop five key programmes that will be rolled out across its international offices this month. Global M&A head Stephen Wilkinson and competition partner Susan Black have been taking lead roles in the initiative.

Wallace has previously developed similar programmes for major bluechips including BP, Credit Suisse and Vodafone, but this is her first project with a law firm. 

The final programme, which will focus on career transitions, will be launched at the end of October in a two-day event for 25 female senior associates who have been identified as having partnership potential. 

The programme also includes career plans for talented female lawyers with two to three years' post-qualification experience, as well as coaching for female salaried partners aiming to reach the equity. These will start in spring 2014 in London, with Wallace coaching the candidates. 

The other four strands of the initiative are: a female lawyers network, unconscious bias training, a mentoring scheme and a flexible working campaign. There are around 400 women in the female lawyers network, while the mentoring scheme currently has 52 male and female partners acting as mentors around the world.

The establishment of the programme comes after the firm set up a gender committee in 2011.

HSF head of diversity and inclusion David Shields said: "The initiative has been specifically tailored to address the issues identified by our female lawyers. When people see we are investing in programmes like this, it shows we are serious about increasing the number of female partners in the firm."