Our people
Celebrating our culture and looking to the future
Gender diversity
During the past year, the number of partners who are women has risen from 43% to 46%. Director of People, Risk and Compliance, Anu Kapila discusses what makes Russell-Cooke such a positive environment for women, what we are doing to maintain a positive gender balance, and where we need to focus going forward.
This change over time signifies a shift in the firm’s culture and in society at large: women are more likely to be supported to take on leadership roles than they were even as short a time as ten years ago, and we are extremely proud to be able to say we are one of the firms leading the way.
What are our current figures? How have they changed positively?
According to data from the Law Society, since 1990 women have represented over 60% of new entrants into the legal profession, and there are now more women than men practising as solicitors. Data from the Solicitors Regulation Authority however shows that while the proportion of women in law firms has risen from 48% in 2015 to 53% in 2023, the seniority gap for women remains.
Although we haven’t yet closed this gap entirely at partner level, we are proud to be able to report that women currently comprise 46% of the partnership and 64% of all partners and staff. The percentage of female partners increased in the reporting period from 43% at end June 2023, to 46% at end June 2024.
As such, we exceed the SRA London-wide average for law firms of female staff compared to men (which currently stands at 53%), and at every level of seniority for lawyers below partner level there are more women than men. In addition to this, we exceed the London average at partner and at Board level.
Since 2014, the firm has grown in size substantially and the amount of fee earners who are women has risen from 50 (71% of fee earners in 2014) to 119 (72% of fee earners in 2024). What is more impressive is that the number of partners who are women has risen from 16 (35% of partners in 2014) to 27 (46% of partners in 2024).
This change over time signifies a shift in the firm’s culture and in society at large: women are more likely to be supported to take on leadership roles than they were even as short a time as ten years ago, and we are extremely proud to be able to say we are one of the firms leading the way.
What kind of environment have we cultivated at Russell-Cooke to enable women to thrive?
Russell-Cooke has always been an environment where women are supported to progress. I believe our positive gender balance is an expression of our supportive and collaborative culture. We’re committed to fostering a workplace where every individual is valued for who they are. The firm wants to see women succeed, and takes steps to break down any barriers – real or perceived - to their progression.
Our Women’s Networking Group, for example, aims to inspire and uplift women across the firm by creating opportunities to network, debate, and develop relationships with others internally and externally. The group holds regular meetings and internal events, as well as external networking events to support women to grow their professional networks. It is crucial that we ensure there are spaces for women to share experiences, ideas and advice, and that participation in such groups continues to be welcomed and encouraged.
Why is it important to us to have good gender representation throughout the firm?
It is the partnership of women at different levels in the firm that gives younger women the confidence to aspire to more senior positions throughout their careers at Russell-Cooke.
Women in the earlier stages of their careers can see the solidarity between senior women (and men) at the firm, and in that way, gender equality becomes self-fulfilling. We have an ‘open-door’ policy; junior lawyers know that they can speak to and seek the support of those in leadership roles without feeling intimidated by their seniority.
How do we plan to build on this?
The firm has taken decisive steps forward in recent years. In 2023 we reduced the required eligibility period for maternity and paternity pay across the firm to support more people at the firm regardless of their length of service. In 2022, the firm introduced its first menopause policy, which together with providing clear definitions of the various stages of menopause and details of their associated symptoms, placed a clear emphasis on the expectation everybody in the firm will support their colleagues who are going through the menopause.
69% of our workforce is female, with over a quarter in their 40s and 50s. We want to ensure this significant group is not in any way disadvantaged. It is vital for managers to have an understanding of what it means for women in their team who are going through the menopause in order that they can give them the right support, which means educating men as well as women. It’s important that women do not suffer in silence as they did in the past.
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion is a principle that sits at the core of our identity. It is important that Russell-Cooke reflects the community it represents, and we know that we still have a way to go in ensuring that it does.
Where are our areas of focus going forward?
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion is a principle that sits at the core of our identity. It is important that Russell-Cooke reflects the community it represents, and we know that we still have a way to go in ensuring that it does. In 2023 we ran a detailed data gathering exercise and compared our ED&I characteristics and performance to other London firms. We are currently analysing what we have learnt from this exercise with a view to exploring specific initiatives relating to our key focus on social mobility.
With regard to the socio-economic background of our lawyers, it is now three years since we introduced Rare Recruitment’s Contextual Recruitment System which provides further assistance and context in terms of assessing applications and improving the social mobility profile of our graduate recruits.
SRA data shows that we have fewer solicitors and partners from professional backgrounds compared to both all firms and 50+ partner firms, and we have more partners who originate from a lower socio-economic background. We also continue to see an increase year on year of undergraduates applying from UK state schools together with an increase in applications from those who will be the first generation in their families to attend university. Consequently, the number of offers and acceptances within this demographic significantly increased year on year: 82% our 2025 trainee cohort will be from UK state schools up from 56% in the 2024 cohort.
However, it is clear there is much need for improvement. We have fewer solicitors than the average coming from a lower socio-economic background, which suggests that our solicitors, who tend to be younger, are coming from wealthier backgrounds. We also know that we have fewer Black and Asian solicitors and partners compared to both all firms and 50+ partner firms and this remains one of our key objectives to address.
What are we doing to meet these objectives?
In recent years we have seen encouraging progress in social mobility with a growing proportion of state-educated graduates choosing to start their legal careers with us.
We have introduced or built upon a range of initiatives in the past year in support of these goals. We now ask candidates interviewing for a legal position a standardised set of questions to ensure that every individual, regardless of their background or identity, is given the same opportunity at the outset of the recruitment process to demonstrate their competence and experience without any inbuilt bias in the interviewing process.
For the past three years we have taken part in the 10,000 Black Interns programme, as part of which we hosted two interns each year for a six-week programme with both interns rotating around three legal teams. The feedback received from the interns and the host departments has been extremely positive, and as a result, we are expanding the initiative and are committed to supporting the 10,000 Able Interns scheme to facilitate disabled candidates’ access to law.
We continue to be Stonewall Diversity Champions. We aim through this partnership to ensure that all LGBTQ+ partners and staff feel comfortable and can thrive in the workplace, which we achieve by not only ensuring policies and processes are inclusive of LGBTQ+ people, but committing to actively celebrating our LGBTQ+ colleagues, such as during Pride Month.
What supporting our people means to me
Brooke Clark
Associate
As a junior lawyer, it is encouraging to see openly LGBTQ+ senior colleagues and mentors.
Imogen Nolan
Senior Associate
Responsible business practices are essential for all modern law firms. I believe they are key to maintaining employee wellbeing and their commitment to the firm.
Case studies
