Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Being diverse and inclusive means we can attract the best talent, build the most effective teams, and deliver exceptional service to our clients. And most importantly, it means everyone is valued for who they are.

The legal sector still isn’t diverse enough. But we’re taking meaningful action to make measurable progress. Everyone at our firm should feel safe to be themselves and have their voice heard. We listen to our people and act on their feedback to improve their experience with us and ensure their wellbeing is protected.

By investing in programs for underrepresented and marginalized groups, we can effect systemic change. We design our policies and processes to be inclusive in how we recruit, how we retain talent, and how we help our people progress their careers with us.

We also believe in transparency about what we’re doing well, what we could do better, and how fast we’re progressing. Where possible, we collect and share diversity data, and use it to inform our strategy and activities.

And our efforts to diversify the legal sector don’t exist in a vacuum. We partner with organizations to promote equality and social justice in our communities.

Diversity and inclusion isn’t just about each and every one of us having a voice. It’s about the collective power of those many different voices together. Embracing the differences in who we are, what we’ve experienced and how we think. Promoting equality and progressing because of it. Together. One voice, made of many.

Every voice should count equally. But that’s not always the case.

We start by listening to each other, and learning.

About how we’re similar, yet different. About the experiences and attributes that make us who we are, but don’t define us. About what’s working, and what needs to work better. We embrace equity: some of us need more support to have the same level of opportunity and belonging.

The journey is what matters, because there will always be more we can do. Taking steps every day so all our people are treated with respect, can safely be themselves, and have what they need to succeed.

At DLA Piper we celebrate our diversity and differences. We empower ourselves and each other with knowledge and empathy. And we commit to speaking up and making real progress.

This isn’t easy. It takes courage.

We do it as individuals and as a community. Strong alone, stronger together. Because we’re one voice, made of many.

Watch our people share personal stories about what diversity and inclusion means in their lives. Themes include LGBT+ equality, socioeconomic background, health and wellbeing, disability, gender and race.

An inclusive culture requires inclusive behaviour throughout our organisation. This means supporting everyone we work with to grow and realise their own potential – leading to individual and shared success.

Our employee networks play a vital role in strengthening the inclusivity of our culture, driving diversity and supporting our people. The networks act as powerful advocacy platforms for colleagues from underrepresented groups, ensuring their voices are heard at management level and holding leadership to account for delivering on diversity goals.

People Networks play a vital role in strengthening inclusivity, driving diversity and supporting people across our firm. They provide a community where our people can learn from one another, share lived experiences and discuss topics that are important to them. Our People Networks are represented in our DEI Council, which is made up of senior leaders in our firm and act as a catalyst for meaningful change. Our People Networks include:

Our vision is to create a firmwide, inclusive culture, where our people thrive and our clients recognise us as best in class. There are many ways to measure this – one of them is to set ourselves Goals and KPIs, which we launched in March 2021. 

• For at least 30% of our partnership to be women by 2025 and 40% by 2030
  
  
• We expect at least half of future internal partner promotes to come from under-represented groups from now on. This may include but not be limited to gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and socioeconomics.
  
  
• We will leverage data insights to ensure our Business Services population remains inclusive and representative, and where there are imbalances, seek to address these through equitable processes and behavioural change.