Firm wins Diversity & Inclusion Award at Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards 2021

National law firm Browne Jacobson won a major award at the 2021 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards in London.

The firm won the Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion Award for its innovative work in promoting social mobility in the legal profession.

It was a double celebration for the firm after it scooped the Innovation Award at the fifth annual UK Social Mobility Awards 2021.

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 it launched FAIRE (Fairer Access into Real Experience) – a unique programme offering work experience opportunities to candidates specifically from lower socio-economic backgrounds. In the same year it also staged the UKs largest virtual legal careers event for over 7000 young people as part of FAIRE.

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

“This prestigious award is a vindication of an unbelievable amount of hard work by so many people at the firm. However, we feel we have barely scratched the surface, particularly when it comes to social mobility. The next challenge for us is to ensure we maintain momentum, continually raise the bar and encourage others to do more to create a level playing field for all.”

Caroline Green, Senior Partner at Browne Jacobson, leads on diversity, inclusion and well-being at the firm and was shortlisted as a Top 5 Innovative Leader at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards this year. She added :

“Creating equal opportunities for young people from underrepresented communities is one of the legal profession’s greatest challenges. Promoting greater diversity and inclusion is a core plank of our strategy as a business. I am so proud of the work we have undertaken and what we have managed to achieve.

“As with all innovative businesses we will not rest on our laurels and will continue to deliver creative solutions that drive positive change and create a truly diverse and inclusive environment at Browne Jacobson.”