A commitment to the broad spectrum of diversity issues, which included setting up a multi-faith network group and an LGBT group, won Eversheds LLP the 2008 award for Excellence in Equality & Diversity

The Society has an important responsibility to represent every member of the profession and to support the profession in its efforts to reflect the society it serves and achieve an approach to inclusion that meets the expectations of solicitors and their clients today. In spring 2009 the Council settled an Equality and Diversity Framework for the Law Society group that is available on our website. 

Our representative activity is strongly informed by close working with organisations such as the Association of Women Solicitors, the groups representing ethnic minority lawyers, the Lawyers with Disabilities Division, and groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered lawyers. This collaboration ranges from issues such as the impact of legal aid changes on solicitors and their clients to the challenges that can arise for individual solicitors working in other jurisdictions which might have in place discriminatory laws.

We have launched the Diversity and Inclusion Charter as the bedrock of our work with legal practices as we develop best practice across the legal sector. The fi rst practical tool to accompany the Charter, the Procurement Protocol, was launched at the same time. The Charter was initially suggested by BT and the Society of Asian Lawyers and by the time it  launched the Protocol had already gathered widespread support from across the sector - from private practice firms large and small, in-house lawyers and large consumers of legal services. Future protocols are in development in consultation with the profession. 

We are working with representatives of women and BME solicitors particularly to look at how we can ensure a level playing field for entry to the profession and progression within it and have recently published a study of the career experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual solicitors.