Three top law firms have been named in the Times’ Top 50 Employers for Women.
Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hogan Lovells all featured in the latest list, compiled by Opportunity Now.
The Top 50 aims to recognise businesses which offer good working environments for female staff and which promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Freshfields has a number of initiatives aimed at creating gender equality at work, such as mentoring, unconscious bias training and free emergency care for the children and elderly relatives of staff based in London.
However, commenting to the Lawyer on its inclusion in the list, a spokeswoman for Freshfields said that the law firm was still striving to do more. She said the firm would like to see more women at trainee and partnership level.
Justine Delroy, Partner and leader of the gender working group at Addleshaw Goddard said: “This accolade speaks volumes about the kind of business that we are, and the culture that we are working hard to foster. This respected award is great recognition of the work we are doing to ensure that women at Addleshaw Goddard have every opportunity to succeed and flourish.” She also said, though, that the firm knows there us still more to be done.
A spokesperson for Hogan Lovells said the firm was pleased to see its commitment to diversity and to progressing gender equality initiatives as part of its strategy recognised.
The news comes following a recent survey by the Law Gazette which found that many female lawyers still believe that gender discrimination in the profession is ‘rife’.
