Overview

Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge UK LLP (EAPD UK LLP) values the diversity of its staff and clients. We aim to make our services as accessible and responsive as possible to all existing and potential clients, and to provide a service to them which recognises and respects their differences.

We recognise that our ability to meet their needs is improved by having a diverse workforce which generally reflects our client base.  Our objective is to attract and retain the most talented people and to maximise the benefit of the different life experiences and perspectives which a diverse workforce brings. We also seek to provide the best opportunities to all of our employees based on their abilities and potential. This policy covers all aspects of employment. To view EAPD UK LLP's full diversity policy please click here.

Diversity Committees

Our firm wide teamwork and diversity committee (TDC) provides leadership for our long-term efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion within the firm. The TDC is charged with establishing policies that promote and support diversity and teamwork and devising strategies and initiatives to implement those policies. The London office also has its own diversity committee responsible for championing local policies, procedures and initiatives. The committee has members from the firm's different practice areas on both the fee earning and support side. Diversity training workshops have helped each member of the committee understand how a more diverse and inclusive workplace can strengthen the firm for both ourselves and our clients. The London diversity committee liaises closely with the pro bono committee allowing for a regular exchange of ideas and information and to ensure the highest level of commitment to the firm's initiatives.

Recruitment

• Our current trainees and those joining us in 2010 and 2011 attended 20 universities between them. Their gender split is 48 per cent female and 52 per cent male. Fourteen per cent are from an ethnic minority background. 

• In 2008/2009 we have visited 17 universities/law schools. We also hosted open days for 198 undergraduates and graduates from 59 different universities. Their gender split was thirty six per cent male and sixty four per cent female.  Thirty three per cent were from an ethnic minority background.

• Although we have a stated minimum academic requirement of a 2.1 degree and 3 Bs at A level, applications are not automatically rejected if these standards are not met. We give applicants the opportunity to explain any mitigating circumstances as to why their grades were not as high or as consistent as we would ordinarily expect. Every form is read by a partner and a member of the recruitment team, with significant emphasis being placed on achievements outside academic study, positions of responsibility, an interesting and diverse work experience. Every candidate is required to complete our standard application form which allows us to "level the playing field" and measure each candidate's answers to the questions against another's. For those who reach the assessment stage, we ask each candidate to complete the same standard verbal and numerical reasoning tests, as well as participate in a group exercise, all run by external consultants. We believe this approach to assessment gives each candidate the fairest opportunity to best showcase their strengths.

Diversity in Action

• At present, seventeen per cent of our UK partners are women and thirteen per cent from an ethnic minority background. 

• A number of our women solicitors are members of the Association of Women Solicitors which runs training and social events targeted at supporting women through the various stages of their legal career. Women in the Insurance and Reinsurance group are members of NetWirk, an organisation which promotes training and networking opportunities for women in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Two of our associates are on the NetWirk committee. 

• We work with the Black Solicitors Network (BSN)  to offer work placement opportunities to student members of the BSN, helping to address and reduce the obstacles facing BSN student members entering the legal profession.  We also advertise in their annual directory.Our current trainees and those joining us in 2010 and 2011 attended 20 universities between them. Their gender split is 48 per cent female and 52 per cent male. Fourteen per cent are from an ethnic minority background.

• We participate in the Social Mobility Foundation programme whose core objective is to provide a range of support for bright, less privileged A level students to enable them to realise their potential. Our support includes offers of work experience and participation in the e-mentoring scheme whereby EAPD lawyers exchange weekly messages with their mentee students to support them in their university application process and to help them discover more about a career in law.

• We are also presently working with the City of London Corporation, the Brokerage Citylink, City Action and Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership to offer our support to a number of local diversity initiatives aiming to provide skills workshops and mentoring opportunities to talented students from inner city schools, often from non-traditional backgrounds. We think it is  vital that we play our part in helping bright young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to understand more about what it means to work in the City and to help give them the tools to achieve this goal. 

• We are a member of Heart of the City, an organisation that helps businesses in the City learn from one another how to develop voluntary and socially responsible programmes in the community.

• Our new first year trainees recently spent a day helping to re-decorate Limehouse youth centre - a community space that is run by City Gateway.  This is a charity dedicated to helping the local communities of Tower Hamlets.  The trainees did this as part of their firm induction and we hope this will be the start of further support for City Gateway and its various projects.
  
  
• One of our Partners, Tim Daniel, is the treasurer of the British Nigeria Law Forum (BNLF) and we regularly offer them our support.  Recently we hosted a BNLF student event at the firm and were represented on the speaker panel.