Baker & McKenzie offers language toolkit as part of global LGBT initiative
Baker & McKenzie has given an LGBT 'toolkit' to every office head as part of a global LGBT initiative.
October 14, 2014 at 05:10 AM
2 minute read
Baker & McKenzie has given an LGBT 'toolkit' to every office head as part of a global LGBT initiative.
The firm has also appointed a representative from BakersAllies – the firm's internal LGBT network which is spearheading the initiative – for each of its global offices.
The toolkit pincludes information on the firm's LGBT policy, a guide to 'best practice on inclusive language' and resources for starting local LGBT outreach schemes such as mentoring programmes.
"The main emphasis (is) in countries where there is a social or cultural backlash against LGBT rights," said Harry Small (pictured), Bakers' LGBT initiative lead. "We can't try and change the law but what we can do is to try and make sure that our office is a space where an LGBT person can be themreselves."
The language guide contains a 'tips & hints' section, including definitions of sexual orientation, as well as highlighting terms and phrases which may be may be perceived as insulting. It is hoped that the toolkits will help offices across the global network to become 'safe spaces' for LGBT individuals at the firm.
"The language guide is just a little thing we give to offices to help them understand wording," explained Small.
"I am not being prescriptive about how offices distribute it and we may indeed decide to distribute globally if that's appropriate but to be honest I would rather it is done at a local level."
"The language idea is a really, really good thing to do," said Daniel Winterfeldt, a CMS partner and founder of the InterLaw Diversity Forum.
"Having a representative in each office is a really good thing to do, particularly because of how global Baker & McKenzie is. It is a really strong message. Getting LGBT things to be global and international is very challenging so doing this is a good step forward."
The BakersAllies representatives will work in each office to ensure there is awareness of and compliance with Bakers' LGBT policy at a local level. They will also be the point of communication for the global BakersAllies team with each individual office.
Harry Small was listed in the Financial Times' second annual list of the Top 100 LGBT executives for 2014
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