At Bevan
Brittan, valuing diversity is at the heart of our culture.
It’s not just about achieving quotas or publishing
impressive statistics - it’s about pulling together the most
talented group of people to deliver the best possible
service to our clients.
Our people come from different walks of life and backgrounds
and our employment policies and practices are designed to
provide an environment where our colleagues can be
themselves, and can feel accepted and valued for who they
are.
Our colleagues
Bevan Brittan aspires to treat all colleagues equally,
regardless of race, religion, colour, sex, age, national
origin, disability or sexual orientation. We conduct regular
internal surveys and participate in external surveys to
ensure that our colleagues feel comfortable in their working
environment. Our pro-active Diversity Working Group is led
by a partner and has the full backing of the Executive
Board. The group meets on a regular basis to discuss and
implement ways to promote diversity within the firm.
Our flexible working arrangements enable colleagues to
balance their professional and personal and family lives,
and 14 per cent of colleagues currently make use of them. We
also offer enhanced maternity and paternity pay, and
family-friendly policies such as a childcare voucher scheme.
Clients
We are committed to developing a progressive, open culture
in tune with today’s society and changing composition of the
communities and businesses with whom we work. A central part
of our Client Promises is our promise to understand our
clients, whether this relates to their business, to
corporate culture, or to accommodating individual client’s
needs. We actively seek clients’ input to our Diversity
Working Group.
Recruitment
We operate an equal opportunities recruitment policy for all
colleagues and try to ensure that all sections of the
community have access to our advertisements. We are working
with the Black Solicitors Network, the Black Lawyers
Directory and Birmingham Professional DiverCity to ensure
that we recruit from the widest possible talent pool.
The firm appoints, trains, develops and
promotes on the basis of merit and ability alone.
Diversity training
We are committed to instilling the issue of diversity into
the heart of our business. We are rolling out diversity
training to all colleagues, emphasising that if we can all
appreciate the differences in how people work and interact,
we will achieve improved results for our clients, and make
Bevan Brittan a better place to work.
Local communities
We have formed partnerships with local schools and the
College of Law to enable students from minority backgrounds
to experience life in a legal firm. This programme extends
right across our business, incorporating HR, accounts, IT
and other support staff as well as lawyers. We arrange
activities ranging from mentoring and work placements to
mock interviews.
Diversity beyond Bevan Brittan
Our commitment to diversity does not stop at our our own
doorstep. We require our suppliers to provide us with
details of their diversity programmes as part of our
supplier tendering questionnaire. We are also carrying out a
diversity audit of our major current suppliers.
We are also heavily involved in two projects run by The Law
Society and the Ministry of Justice that are aiming to
increase diversity right across the legal community.
Nationally
We are proud that our diversity programme has led to us
being recognised as a firm that is leading the way in
diversity in the legal profession. We were ranked 5th out of
the UK's top 100 legal firms in the Black Lawyers' Directory
2007 Diversity League Table. We have
participated in
the ‘Diverse Britain’ 2007 Commemorative book which was
recently published. Click here to
read the chapter featuring Bevan Brittan. We are also regularly asked
to speak about diversity, for example at a forthcoming
national conference organised by the CBI.
We monitor our demographics on a regular basis -
click here
to view our most recent statistics.
