Browne Jacobson wins D&I Initiative of the Year at the British Legal Awards 2021

Browne Jacobson has won the D&I Initiative of the Year award at this year’s British Legal Awards 2021.

It is the fourth national award the firm has won for its innovative talent diversity & inclusion programme.

The judges praised the firm for “doing rather than talking or planning” when it came to promoting greater diversity and inclusion in the legal sector.

Other awards this year have included the Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion Award at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards, the Innovation Award at the fifth annual UK Social Mobility Awards and the Diversity & Inclusion Award at The Lawyer Awards.

Browne Jacobson has established a national reputation for its commitment to promoting greater diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and is currently ranked as one of the top 5 businesses in the UK by the Social Mobility Foundation.

Since 2016 the firm has implemented a series of ground-breaking initiatives including revolutionising its trainee recruitment processes by removing academic barriers, anonymising applications and focusing its outreach work on social mobility ‘cold spots’.

In 2021 the firm launched FAIRE (Fairer Access into Real Experience) – a unique programme offering work experience opportunities to candidates specifically from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Under its FAIRE initiative, it staged two of the UKs largest virtual legal careers events with over 11,000 young people taking part in total.

Tom Lyas, Recruitment Manager and architect of the firm’s FAIRE initiative said:

“It has been an incredible end to the year for our FAIRE initiative. To win four major awards was beyond our wildest dreams. It’s a tribute to everyone at the firm who have supported our work and helped us begin what is only the start of our journey towards creating a genuine level playing field in the legal profession.”

Caroline Green, Senior Partner at Browne Jacobson, who leads on diversity, inclusion and well-being at the firm, added:

“When I started in law, diversity programmes were simply unheard of. Whilst much has changed there remains so much more that we as a profession and a society can do in this field.

“This award is testament to the incredible work undertaken by so many at the firm and demonstrates the value of attracting and supporting a diverse workforce and its value to a firm’s culture and long term success.”