Diversity
At Bristows we are committed to championing equality and diversity. As a firm and as individuals we do all we can to treat people fairly and with mutual respect, whether they are colleagues, clients or suppliers. This commitment enriches our work and our working lives, and we believe it has played a key part in our success over the years.
When recruiting new people, we judge solely on ability and regardless of issues such as sex, race, religion, disability or sexual preference. This has helped us to create an open, friendly firm that is a rich mix of people with different views, backgrounds and experience. We also offer the kind of flexible working practices that enable our people to strike the right balance between their home and work lives. We believe this is one of the reasons why Bristows has been able to attract a far greater proportion of female fee earners than most other City law firms.
Our desire to help people fulfil their potential extends beyond the workplace to a more general commitment to make a positive impact on society through our CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities. For example, we support a number of social mobility initiatives that we hope will go some way to helping address the under-representation of ethnic minorities in the legal profession.
We are always developing our policies, and linking with professional networks is an excellent way for us to keep up with the latest issues. For example, Bristows participates in the InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) networks. We are also signatories to the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter and a member of the Law Society’s Equality and Diversity Forum.
Our Equality and Diversity Committee monitors our progress and tracks the results we are achieving. The figures from our most recent Diversity Survey are in the table below.
If you would like to know more about our commitment to diversity and what we’re doing about it, please contact Cate Holloway.
Bristows Diversity Statistics
We ask everyone to participate in the annual Diversity Survey on a voluntary basis. Data is collected anonymously and is used to analyse and monitor our progress in promoting equal opportunities at Bristows.
The statistics presented in Table A have been obtained from data collected from the Diversity Survey in April 2011, to which 75% of staff responded.
| Table A | % of all survey respondents |
| Ethnicity | |
| White* | 91% |
| Asian¹ | 7% |
| Mixed² | 1% |
| Black³ | 1% |
| Disability | |
| Declared disability | 1% |
| Religion | |
| Christian | 54% |
| Buddhist | 0% |
| Hindu | 1% |
| Jewish | 2% |
| Muslim | 2% |
| Sikh | 0% |
| No religion | 40% |
| Other | 1% |
| Sexuality | |
| Heterosexual | 94% |
| Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual | 6% |
| Declared caring responsibilities | 31% |
| Children under 16 | 78% |
| Sick or Elderly | 20% |
| Disabled | 11% |
Table B represents data taken from the Firm's HR database.
| Table B | Partners | Fee Earners | Business Services | Total |
| Male | 68% | 40% | 29% | 40% |
| Female | 32% | 60% | 71% | 60% |
| Age | ||||
| Under 25 | 0 | 1% | 5% | 4% |
| 25-34 | 0 | 78% | 24% | 43% |
| 35-44 | 50% | 21% | 37% | 31% |
| 45-54 | 41% | 0 | 25% | 17% |
| 55 + | 9% | 0 | 9% | 5% |
| Works flexible hours | 3% | 10% | 16% | 9% |
* Options included respondents who considered themselves either 'white British', 'white English', 'white Scottish', 'white Welsh', 'white Irish' or 'white - other'.
¹ Options included respondents who considered themselves of 'Indian', 'Pakistani', 'Bangladeshi', 'Chinese' or 'any other Asian background'.
² Options included respondents who considered themselves 'White and Black Caribbean', 'White and Black African', 'White and Asian' or 'any other mixed background'.
³ Options included respondents who considered themselves either 'Black', 'Black British', 'Black English', 'Black Scottish', 'Black Welsh' or 'Black Irish' and the option of selecting either 'Caribbean', 'African' or 'any other Black background'.
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