As a Firm, we want everyone to feel a sense of belonging, safe in the knowledge they’re valued for their differences and unique strengths. We strive to be at the forefront of society’s biggest issues and use our position and influence to offer equality of opportunity for all.
It’s important to us to have a workforce that is reflective of the clients we serve and the communities we operate in. Simply put, we have an aspiration to be the most inclusive and diverse law firm in the UK where everyone can thrive and succeed.
Diversity and inclusion continues to be one of our highest priorities. It’s fundamental to our culture and embedded in our core values. We empower our people to come to work as their authentic selves every day. Creating an inclusive and diverse working environment is everyone’s responsibility at Browne Jacobson.
We know that with real action and clear goals, we can do our part in leading the legal profession to be more representative of the society around us. Lasting change will only be achieved when jobs at senior levels are accessible to all – and when the career paths to achieve them are equally accessible. This is why we’ve set some initial diversity targets to achieve our ambition of having a minimum of 45% female and 10% UK Ethnic Minority partners by 2026.
We’re committed to championing a more diverse, inclusive and equitable society starting with how we run our firm. We want to celebrate our different identities and backgrounds by creating an inclusive culture where our people feel their voice is heard, and their contribution is valued. We’re ambitious for everyone to reach their potential and we want everyone to thrive.
Our commitment starts at the top with our Managing Partner, Senior Partner and Board, and we’re taking action by:
We know we have more to do on our D&I journey and we’re excited about what we can do to create a more inclusive, diverse and equitable world.
“Browne Jacobson has been an absolutely brilliant legal partner. It is not just their legal expertise that make Browne Jacobson special. They also support the sector with expert insights and are accessible and supportive. I can personally vouch for the quality of legal advice and the trust and confidence that leaders place in the team. They believe in building sector capacity and work with a number of national organisations, including the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) to offer wider sector support. I am also proud to be associated with a legal firm that is known for its commitment to equality and diversity. For example, they won the D&I Initiative of the Year award at last year's British Legal Awards.”
We’re committed to working together to drive sustainable gender balance, empowering everyone to support our ambition of gender equality. We want to make Browne Jacobson an inspiring place that allows everyone to create and build a successful career. We continue to drive understanding of the benefits to the firm and to individuals of gender balance and how everyone can proactively engage in efforts to recruit, develop and retain our balanced workforce. This extends to supporting those balancing their careers with wider family commitments.
We’re taking action by:
We’re committed to being an anti-racist Firm that tackles inequality, eradicates systemic racism and puts equity and fairness at the heart of everything we do.
We promote awareness across Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage and focus on implementing strategic plans across the Firm to engage, retain and grow talent that reflects the ethnic diversity of the national marketplace.
We are taking action by:
We take a broad view of disability, ensuring that our D&I strategy doesn’t only address physical disability, but also non-visible disability, neurodiversity, mental health as well as long term and chronic conditions. We want to promote disability confidence and create a culture where everyone’s strengths and unique abilities are celebrated.
Disability inclusion at Browne Jacobson goes beyond simple education and awareness, but also ensures that we are incorporating best practice into all internal policies and processes to ensure they are accessible to all.
We will do more to address the disability employment gap by focussing on recruitment, resourcing and how we’re attracting and retaining more people with unique abilities into Browne Jacobson.
We’re taking action by:
We have a growing LGBTQ+ community and have recently launched our internal “Pride” network to engage, inspire and educate the firm. We believe everyone should have the freedom to be themselves at work and we encourage colleagues to be active allies and to speak up if they have concerns.
Allyship isn’t just passive support, but part of our everyday actions - visibly and vocally championing inclusion inside and outside the Firm.
We’re taking action by:
Why social mobility matters
For each year a child spends in education, the gap between rich and poor grows, with the attainment gap accelerating year on year. Just 1 in 10 students from poorer backgrounds are likely to achieve similar career success as those from wealthy backgrounds. This lack of upward mobility means that talent is often underdeveloped through lack of equal opportunity. Children from more prosperous families often benefit from more support and guidance from home and they can often access resources that their less advantaged peers cannot. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated this discrepancy, as those children from less wealthy backgrounds have struggled to access the technology they need in order to continue their schooling remotely.
Informing and connecting students with available opportunities by linking them with potential employers is essential to improving social mobility. Students whose family members are from a professional background frequently have a far greater knowledge of how to go about finding opportunities and are more likely to have connections to help them secure work experience. Employers and schools are therefore critical when it comes to building alternative support networks for students who don’t easily have access to these advantages.
What are we doing to address social mobility?
In 2016, we removed our requirement for minimum A-level grades for our trainees and now anonymise all application forms and CVs. We recognise the importance of exploring the variety of experiences and achievements that individuals can bring to Browne Jacobson, outside of traditional academic achievement. We’re delighted to be a member of RARE – an organisation committed to making elite professions more diverse. We use RARE’s contextual recruitment system predominantly for our training contract recruitment. This allows us to contextualise applications and measure against academic performance for a fairer process.
Browne Jacobson have a long-standing partnership with the National Literacy Trust. Whilst the focus is on helping students with their reading and writing skills, this partnership allows us to make the essential contacts between ourselves and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, showing them the career possibilities that are available to them.
We’ve set up FAIRE (Fairer Access Into Real Experience) to revolutionise the way law firms encourage diverse talent into the profession, and to grow an industry-wide culture of inclusivity. FAIRE aims to support social mobility, offering students equal access to paid work experience that can pave the way for a career in the legal sector. You can view more information about FAIRE here.
For more information about our commitment to social mobility and how we’re committed to embedding this across Browne Jacobson, please follow the links below:
“I didn’t want my future to be shaped by how little money my parents had”
Browne Jacobson named one of UK’s leading businesses for social mobility
Browne Jacobson and ‘Young Professionals’ deliver UK’s biggest virtual student law careers event
We’re committed to working together to drive sustainable gender balance, empowering everyone to support our ambition of gender equality. We want to make Browne Jacobson an inspiring place that allows everyone to create and build a successful career. We continue to drive understanding of the benefits to the firm and to individuals of gender balance and how everyone can proactively engage in efforts to recruit, develop and retain our balanced workforce. This extends to supporting those balancing their careers with wider family commitments.
We’re taking action by:
We’re committed to being an anti-racist Firm that tackles inequality, eradicates systemic racism and puts equity and fairness at the heart of everything we do.
We promote awareness across Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage and focus on implementing strategic plans across the Firm to engage, retain and grow talent that reflects the ethnic diversity of the national marketplace.
We are taking action by:
We take a broad view of disability, ensuring that our D&I strategy doesn’t only address physical disability, but also non-visible disability, neurodiversity, mental health as well as long term and chronic conditions. We want to promote disability confidence and create a culture where everyone’s strengths and unique abilities are celebrated.
Disability inclusion at Browne Jacobson goes beyond simple education and awareness, but also ensures that we are incorporating best practice into all internal policies and processes to ensure they are accessible to all.
We will do more to address the disability employment gap by focussing on recruitment, resourcing and how we’re attracting and retaining more people with unique abilities into Browne Jacobson.
We’re taking action by:
We have a growing LGBTQ+ community and have recently launched our internal “Pride” network to engage, inspire and educate the firm. We believe everyone should have the freedom to be themselves at work and we encourage colleagues to be active allies and to speak up if they have concerns.
Allyship isn’t just passive support, but part of our everyday actions - visibly and vocally championing inclusion inside and outside the Firm.
We’re taking action by:
Why social mobility matters
For each year a child spends in education, the gap between rich and poor grows, with the attainment gap accelerating year on year. Just 1 in 10 students from poorer backgrounds are likely to achieve similar career success as those from wealthy backgrounds. This lack of upward mobility means that talent is often underdeveloped through lack of equal opportunity. Children from more prosperous families often benefit from more support and guidance from home and they can often access resources that their less advantaged peers cannot. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated this discrepancy, as those children from less wealthy backgrounds have struggled to access the technology they need in order to continue their schooling remotely.
Informing and connecting students with available opportunities by linking them with potential employers is essential to improving social mobility. Students whose family members are from a professional background frequently have a far greater knowledge of how to go about finding opportunities and are more likely to have connections to help them secure work experience. Employers and schools are therefore critical when it comes to building alternative support networks for students who don’t easily have access to these advantages.
What are we doing to address social mobility?
In 2016, we removed our requirement for minimum A-level grades for our trainees and now anonymise all application forms and CVs. We recognise the importance of exploring the variety of experiences and achievements that individuals can bring to Browne Jacobson, outside of traditional academic achievement. We’re delighted to be a member of RARE – an organisation committed to making elite professions more diverse. We use RARE’s contextual recruitment system predominantly for our training contract recruitment. This allows us to contextualise applications and measure against academic performance for a fairer process.
Browne Jacobson have a long-standing partnership with the National Literacy Trust. Whilst the focus is on helping students with their reading and writing skills, this partnership allows us to make the essential contacts between ourselves and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, showing them the career possibilities that are available to them.
We’ve set up FAIRE (Fairer Access Into Real Experience) to revolutionise the way law firms encourage diverse talent into the profession, and to grow an industry-wide culture of inclusivity. FAIRE aims to support social mobility, offering students equal access to paid work experience that can pave the way for a career in the legal sector. You can view more information about FAIRE here.
For more information about our commitment to social mobility and how we’re committed to embedding this across Browne Jacobson, please follow the links below:
“I didn’t want my future to be shaped by how little money my parents had”
Browne Jacobson named one of UK’s leading businesses for social mobility
Browne Jacobson and ‘Young Professionals’ deliver UK’s biggest virtual student law careers event
UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson has won the Diversity and Inclusion Award at the 23rd Franco-British Business Awards 2022.
Browne Jacobson has partnered with Forage, one of the world’s leading work experience platforms, to launch an interactive virtual work experience programme to open up access for aspiring young lawyers and improve diversity in the legal profession.
Holly Quirk, an associate barrister in Browne Jacobson’s Manchester office, was awarded the Legal Professional of the Year Award at this year’s Manchester Young Talent Awards.
Browne Jacobson has been recognised as one of the UK’s leading law firms with its ranking in The Times “Best Law Firms 2023”. This is the fifth year that Browne Jacobson has been ranked.
Browne Jacobson’s corporate finance lawyers are celebrating after two of its deals won major awards at the Insider Midlands Dealmakers Awards 2022.
Law firm Browne Jacobson has confirmed its commitment as a Real Living Wage employer by implementing the Living Wage Foundation’s newly announced rates with immediate effect to help offset the cost of living crisis for low paid workers.
Browne Jacobson has welcomed 10 future lawyers to its trainee scheme for 2022 – 2024 as it continues to grow its business. The new recruits have joined 36 trainees currently at the firm, bringing the total number of trainee solicitors at Browne Jacobson to 46 – a record number for the firm.
Browne Jacobson has bolstered its commercial practice in the UK with the appointment of commercial contracts and international trade specialist, Emma Roake, into its City-based London team.
Browne Jacobson’s private client practice has been ranked as Band One in the 2022 Chambers and Partners High Net Worth Guide for its work in private wealth law.
Bridget Tatham, a specialist defendant insurance lawyer at Browne Jacobson has been honoured at this year’s Birmingham Black Lawyer (BBL) Excellence Awards, having been named Lawyer of the Year. Bridget was also shortlisted for BBL’s Diversity Champion 2022.
Browne Jacobson has expanded its Manchester professional indemnity practice by recruiting a seven person team led by Jason Nash and supported by partner Michael Appleby. Jason joined Browne Jacobson last month ahead of the other members of the team.
Browne Jacobson has announced its financial results for 2021-22 with revenues up 11 per cent year-on-year to £94m, up from £85m. It marks the 13th consecutive year of growth with a 59 per cent increase in revenues since 2015 (£59m).
Today, (Thursday 16 June) 18 trainee lawyers from Browne Jacobson began the second of three planned “going green” fundraising challenges which focus on driving positive change to the environment and will raise essential funds for the firm’s charity partners.
On Saturday 14th May, 17 Browne Jacobson trainees walked 24 miles around the three highest peaks in the Yorkshire Dales to raise money for our five office charities.
A lawyer and a HR business partner from law firm Browne Jacobson have been announced as winners of the WeAreTheCity’s Rising Stars Awards 2022.
National law firm Browne Jacobson has launched an electric vehicle (EV) scheme as part of its employee benefits package. The benefit will be available to all of the firm’s employees across its five offices, including Birmingham, Exeter, London, Manchester, and Nottingham.
Browne Jacobson’s trainee lawyers are gearing up for the first of three outdoor fundraising challenges that will begin this weekend (Saturday 14 May), with the aim of driving positive change to the environment and raising funds for the firm’s charity partners.
National law firm Browne Jacobson has announced it has promoted 31 lawyers across the business, including six new partners, two legal directors and 23 Senior Associates, a record number for the firm.
Browne Jacobson is celebrating after two of its Nottingham based lawyers won top accolades at the recent Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards.
Browne Jacobson is continuing with its efforts to address fairer access and diversity within the legal profession, with the appointment of six work experience students who are currently part of the Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme (DAS)
This article is intended to start a discussion on the International Men’s Day UK themes.
Having initially experienced a glimpse of the firm’s inclusivity during a University mentoring BAME scheme, I am pleased to have experienced that Browne Jacobson’s friendly and inclusive culture is the firm’s “beating heart”.
Like most law students, trainees and new starters, it was all virtual for us on the 2021 Browne Jacobson vacation scheme. 2020’s scheme had been cancelled so we were the first virtual cohort, mostly attending from our homes.
From the outset, I was drawn to Browne Jacobson for the variety and quality of work undertaken, the inherently friendly culture and the responsibility handed to trainees at an early stage in their contract.
I’m a vacation schemer at Browne Jacobson – how exciting is it to write that? I’ve been having a fascinating and exciting time seeing everything I’ve learnt in my LLB course put into practice- and quite a lot more besides!
My experience has been hugely positive. Every person I have spoken to, whether a partner, associate, or trainee, has been incredibly welcoming and supportive.
Our 2021 virtual Vacation Scheme is fully underway. Here, our first student Lavania Xavier Rajan gives her impressions of working at Browne Jacobson.
Embracing self-care is our focus for Mental Health Awareness Week this year. As we return to what we have longingly referred to as “normal”, we encourage you to prioritise self-care, connect with nature and talk with someone about any theme related mental health.
