It is common for law firms to trumpet their diversity policies. Ask any what steps they have taken and you can expect to be deluged with marketing spiel. What is less common, however, is to hear what clients think.

Legal Week interviewed a dozen UK general counsel from major companies, including four FTSE 100 institutions, to name the law firms that have impressed them on their diversity and inclusion initiatives.

It follows the recent call to arms by US and UK GCs calling for law firms to show better progress on diversity or risk losing work.

Some of the in-house counsel refrained from nominating any firm, largely unimpressed by any of the efforts made. But most were able to point to at least a few firms they felt had made good progress.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields received the most nominations, with four naming the firm. One GC said the firm's gender diversity strategies had made "extraordinary leaps and bounds", while another said they were impressed by the firm's EDGE [Everyday Gender Equality] initiative. Set up last year, the initiative focuses on 10 everyday actions and how to approach them in the best way for gender equality in a workplace.

Natasha Good – corporate partner, core member of firm's inclusion team, Freshfields

One GC added Freshfields was "taking it very seriously", noting their use of the mindful business charter – a set of principles for businesses to ensure they are being mindful of people's wellbeing.

Other initiatives at Freshfields include a women's network, inclusive behaviour training that is currently rolled out to 220 leaders, and the Stephen Lawrence initiative which helps Caribbean men from underprivileged backgrounds get onto a legal career path.

The firm makes it a necessity that 30% of partner promotion candidates are women.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

BCLP received the second highest number of nominations. One GC pointed out the firm's work experience, school outreach, sponsorship and mentoring programmes, which they described as "genuinely collaborative". Another GC said its leadership takes gender and diversity "very seriously", adding that they are "actively engaging the GC community on this topic".

Lisa Mayhew (left) and Therese Pritchard (right), co-chairs BCLP

In May 2018, the firm met its target of having a 30% female UK-wide partnership; and in the firm's 2019 partner promotion round, 57% of the newly promoted partners were female and more than one fifth were BAME. Other standout points for the firm include the Mansfield Rule – which requires that female lawyers, lawyers of colour, and LGBTQ candidates represent at least 30% of the candidate pool for significant firm leadership roles.

CMS 

CMS "walks the walk" on diversity and inclusion, according to one in-house leader. With a couple of nominations, the firm has impressed GCs on legal panels, with one GC saying the female lawyers were noticeably involved in the cases and the meetings.

Initiatives include using progressive work allocation systems that use technology to eradicate bias in work distribution, a mentoring scheme, flexible and agile working policies, mandatory diversity and inclusion training, face-to-face unconscious bias training, mental wellbeing and resilience training for managers, and a market-leading maternity and shared parental leave programme.

CMS also has a 'time out, no questions asked' policy, which allows all staff the opportunity to take one month of unpaid leave, per year, no questions asked.

Eversheds Sutherland

"I was very impressed with how the whole team was gelling together – you could tell they were an inclusive team," said one GC about Eversheds. The GC added: "It's not just about having figures you can point to on BAME etc, it's about how the teams are collaborating."