Equality, diversity, and inclusion report
Our vision
The Law Society is the professional body for solicitors and a place to connect, grow and thrive.
We’re here to support solicitors at every stage of their career, from qualification through to retirement and to advocate on the issues solicitors have told us matter most, including the rule of law, access to justice and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
We want to:
- lead the way in EDI in the solicitor profession
- build a membership and organisation where we can all thrive
- role model EDI best practice to our members
- make EDI a core part of our identity so that we will be an employer of choice for those who want to make a difference
The rationale
This report is our third EDI annual report. It is a review of our internal EDI activity over the last business year.
Sharing this report will help transparency and accountability for progressing EDI.
The report will show:
- where we are now
- the progress we have made in the past year
- the steps we plan to take to improve our EDI strategy in the future
This report also explores our 2024 pay gap data.
All UK companies with 250 or more employees are required to publish gender pay gap information.
We strive to be open and transparent with our members, which is why we’ve chosen to also publish data on our disability, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation and identity and trans identity pay gaps.
Find out more about our pay gaps in our 2024 pay gap report (PDF 1.1 MB).
Reflections on the past year
September 2023 marked three years since we hired our EDI business partner (EDI BP) who leads our internal EDI strategy.
Our chief executive was appointed as sponsor of the EDI internal group, which consists of representatives from our:
- employee resource groups (ERGs)
- people and organisational development team (HR)
- internal communications team
- employee forum
- EDI champions
- trade union
EDI survey
In September 2024, we delivered our inaugural organisation-wide EDI survey, achieving a response rate of 83%.
The survey findings suggested:
- we have robust EDI foundations in place which are acknowledged and valued by staff
- local environments, such as teams and business units and interpersonal relationships are contributing positively to work experiences
Differences in experiences were also noted, with historically excluded and/or under-represented groups more commonly reporting less positive scores.
The results highlighted opportunities to enhance EDI further, through:
- visible and representative leadership
- career development support
- fair treatment based on demographic insights
Employee resource groups (ERGs)
ERGs were given:
- a budget
- protected time for ERG leads
- exclusive training and development opportunities
EDI index score
We will be using the EDI index score as a key performance indicator (KPI).
It considers employees' perceptions about:
- whether they can be their true selves at work
- their sense of belonging in the organisation
- their ability to succeed regardless of their background or identity
Business Disability Forum
We became members of Business Disability Forum which adds to our existing memberships of Inclusive Employers and Stonewall.
These memberships provide us with expert EDI consultancy and resources and training.
Preferred supplier list
We refreshed our recruitment and executive search preferred supplier list.
EDI was a determining factor in contracts being awarded to new suppliers.
All suppliers will now provide anonymised applications and several of the suppliers have their own diversity targets.
Equality impact assessments (EIAs)
A new EIA process and toolkit has been developed in collaboration with an external EIA specialist.
This new approach is being piloted in 2025.
Gender
We capture gender (legal sex) within the personal information section of the HR management system.
Our staff are 61% female and 39% male.
We are aware that not everyone would categorise themselves in a binary way, which is required by law.
Staff can self-report their gender.
Pay gap
All UK companies with 250 or more employees are required to publish gender pay gap information.
Pay gaps are different from the right to equal pay.
Equal pay is providing the same pay irrespective of a protected characteristic for those doing the same or similar work or work that is different but of equal value.
Pay gaps highlight the difference between the average pay of one group (for example, females) and the average pay of another group (for example, males), irrespective of any differences in the work they do.
As a result, it is affected by how the workforce is made up, including the numbers of individuals in the respective groups, types of jobs and levels of seniority.
There is no standardised method for calculating pay gaps apart from gender pay gaps.
Our 2024 pay gap report highlights:
- our senior leadership team is 49% female and 51% male
- our gender pay gap is 9.7% (median)
The current national average is 14.3%.
What we're doing
Eliminating pay gaps is a priority for us.
1. Reduce the pay gap
We have detailed our plans to reduce this pay gap in our 2024 pay gap report (PDF 1.1 MB).
2. Women’s Action and Voices for Equality (WAVE) ERG
- Delivered a male allyship workshop
- Supported the creation of our menopause guidance
- Worked with the employee forum to ensure access to free period products in our head office
Disability
10.4% of our staff identified as disabled.
20% is the national average of disabled individuals within employment.
Pay gap
Our disability pay gap (median) was 11.1% in favour of disabled staff.
The UK’s disability pay gap is 14.6% in favour of individuals who are not disabled.
What we're doing
- We joined Business Disability Forum (BDF)
- Achieved Disability Confident level three status – the highest level of recognition
Race and ethnicity
- 26% of staff self-reported their ethnicity as black, Asian or minority ethnic
- 52.5% of staff selected their ethnicity as white
- 2.4% preferred not to say
- 17.5% have not responded
Pay gap
The 2024 ethnicity pay gap has decreased to 11.0% from 11.7 in 2023.
What we're doing
- Piloted reverse mentoring – colleagues who identify as black, Asian and minority ethnic acted as mentors, with colleagues at head of business unit (HBU) level and above as mentees
- Hosted 11 interns from the 10,000 Interns Foundation (formerly known as 10,000 Black Interns)
- Our Race Equality And Cultural Heritage (REACH) staff group aims to help develop a truly inclusive organisation, actively promote equality and champion black, Asian and minority ethnic employees to achieve their goals at all levels
Sexuality and trans identities
- 4.5% of our staff identify as LGBT+
- 67.8% are heterosexual
- 9.5% prefer not to say
- 18.2% have not shared their sexuality
Pay gap
There is a pay gap in favour of heterosexual staff of 1.1%.
What we're doing
- Our OutLaws staff group is a safe space for LGBTQ+ colleagues and allies, where staff work together to drive equity and inclusion
- Member of Stonewall's Diversity Champions Programme
- Updated our guidance and policies to support those who identify as trans and non-binary and their colleagues
Religion and belief
The three largest faiths identified in our staff:
- Christianity: 25.8%
- no religion/atheist: 23.9%
- Islam: 5.4%
- Hindu: 5.9%
32.2% of staff have not shared this information or prefer not to say.
What we're doing
- Acknowledged various religious and cultural days, including Diwali and Ramadan
- Hosted our second Iftar celebration
- Launched our Support and Advocacy for Faith Education (SAFE) staff group
Other demographic data
We collect other demographic data to help inform our EDI actions and strategy. This includes information related to:
- parents and carers
- social mobility
- age
- relationship status
Member facing EDI highlights
- Celebrated 20 years of the Diversity Access Scheme (DAS)
- Published new guidance:
- Held roundtables for our Women in Law Pledge signatories
- Celebrated awareness days, such as:
- International Women's Day
- Mental Health Awareness Week
- Pride Month
- Black History Month
- Disability History Month
- Engaged with SRA on:
- actions around the over-regulation of solicitors from minority ethnic backgrounds
- the different assessment outcomes for minority ethnic students
Ongoing actions from 2022/23
Out of the 16 actions we set ourselves in last year’s EDI annual report, we have completed 12.
Our ongoing goals are:
- create and share regular EDI measurements using the HR online management system and other data sources
- trial EDI delivery and personal objectives within ‘individual plans’
- monitor and measure impact of anonymised recruitment with an inclusive recruitment report/analysis
- embed EDI capabilities into our capabilities framework
Goals for 2024/25
Accountability and responsibility shared across the organisation will facilitate EDI being everyone’s responsibility and not limited to an individual, group, business unit or department.
Actions
- Implement and review the new Equality Impact Assessment framework, including the creation of EIA champions
- Pilot an approach for a number of teams to create their own specific EDI commitments aligned to our wider EDI vision
- Provide neurodiversity training for managers and toolkit to all staff
The disabled employment gap for the UK is 29% and there are fewer disabled individuals within employment than individuals who are not disabled.
Actions
- Implement actions from the 2024 Disability Confident Leader audit
- Implement accessibility improvements to 113 Chancery Lane as outlined by the facilities team
We want to support employee safety, dignity, respect and wellbeing at work.
Actions
- Run a ‘safe space’ campaign in collaboration with all ERGs to increase understanding of psychological safety at work
- Promote confidential ways for employees to report experiencing or witnessing inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, bullying and harassment
- Respond to new legislative duties under the Equality Act around preventing sexual harassment
Measuring and reporting on EDI makes it possible to track and record progress, as well as understand if current activity is positive or needs changing.
Actions
- Create and share regular EDI measurements using the HR online management system and other data sources (e.g. recruitment, promotion/development rates, retention, employee relation issues)
- Data drive in relation to all EDI characteristics collected, with specific focus on socio-economic background and carer status
- Non-statutory (ethnicity, LGBTQ+, socio-economic status and disability) and gender pay gap reporting
Chief executive final word
“We want all staff at the Law Society to feel valued, welcomed and embraced. Everyone – regardless of their background or characteristics – should have the opportunity to thrive in our organisation.
We believe it’s right to strive to build an organisation that is truly diverse and inclusive. It is also central to our purpose – helping us better serve a profession that is already diverse and becoming more so.
I’m particularly pleased that this year we ran our first EDI survey, with the data from colleagues’ feedback showing some really strong positives, as well as clear areas for us to prioritise as we aim to improve further.
That data has helped us develop our action plan for the year ahead. Achieving the goals we’ve set will be a challenge, but one I’m confident colleagues will embrace as we continue on our collective journey to build the organisation we want.”
Ian Jeffery, chief executive