Pinsent Masons launches Equality Law practice

The new practice addresses a broader challenge facing organisations when equality issues arise; identifying and tackling the root cause as well as solving the legal matter.

In doing so, businesses can seek to mitigate the likelihood of future problems and avoid a lasting impact on their culture.

For many organisations, drivers of structural inequality and unconscious bias are highly complex and can be impacted by a range of internal and external factors, which make positive change difficult to achieve.

Pinsent Masons is uniquely placed to advise in this area, with longstanding expertise in inclusion and belonging. It remains the only law firm with a dedicated D&I consultancy, Brook Graham.

Co-leads of the new practice, Legal Directors Kate Dodd and Susannah Donaldson, have advised clients on both employment law matters and provided consultancy via Brook Graham. Kate has also led on Pinsent Masons' internal inclusion and belonging work for the past 5 years.

Susannah Donaldson, comments:

"Diverse and inclusive businesses are more profitable, more innovative, and better placed to engage with their shareholders, clients, and incoming talent. Boardrooms are no longer discussing whether a change is needed, but how that change is achieved. As a professional services firm with law at the core, our new practice bridges a crucial gap in the process and helps organisations to become an employer of choice."

Kate Dodd, adds:

"Creating inclusive and equal workplaces is not a task that should fall to HR or D&I teams, nor are equality issues a legal problem to be solved and archived. Dealing with equality or discrimination matters in isolation fails to get to the root of the issue and left unmanaged, is highly damaging to culture. Our deep sectoral knowledge, and experience in helping multi-national businesses to navigate both jurisdictional laws and cultural sensitivities, means we are well placed to guide clients through challenges that are very specific to their industry and region."

The team already has a strong track record of advising a number of clients on employment & diversity matters. Recent work includes providing support on pay gap reporting, strategies for achieving better diversity at senior levels, and the development of progressive family leave policies.