Diversity, equity and inclusion

Our investment in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is integral to our ambition to be the most human law firm. It is core to our culture, shaping the way we recruit, collaborate and deliver the best outcomes for our clients. We are wholly committed to fostering an inspirational culture that values and motivates our people to thrive, both professionally and personally. Embracing our unique perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences drives creativity and deepens our insights so we excel.

LGBTQIA+

We foster an inclusive environment for employees, clients, and partners alike by providing gender-neutral guidance, visibility initiatives, training, and partnerships with external organisations. We want everyone to feel that they can bring their authentic selves to work and are proud to be recognised in Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers list, ranking 36 in 2024.

Race and faith

We embrace cultural diversity, ensuring that our firm respects and reflects both the rich range of backgrounds that our people bring, and those of the communities in which we operate. We do this through our pioneering EMpower work experience programme, our DEI training on race and faith and by being proactive in celebrating difference through events that highlight the vibrancy of individual traditions.

Disability and neurodiversity

We are committed to breaking down barriers for colleagues with disabilities and neurodiversity. Through our inclusive adjustments policy, we ensure that our workspace is accessible for all and that the necessary arrangements are put in place to empower our people to work to the best of their ability. By fostering open conversations, we reduce stigma and build confidence so that our people can thrive.

Gender

We promote gender equality through career progression initiatives, pay parity, and inclusive workplace policies.

Our progress includes:

continuously developing market-leading policies, such as equalised parental leave and dedicated time off for pregnancy loss (up to four weeks) and fertility-related issues;
year-on-year reduction in gender pay gaps;
introduction of new roles and job structures;
repeated recognition in the Women and Diversity in Law Awards.

Social mobility

We are dedicated to enhancing diversity by attracting and retaining talent from as broad a spectrum of socioeconomic backgrounds as possible. We cast our net widely to include those who may not have been able to access opportunity, people from low-income households or with limited access to education, and first-generation university students and graduates. We provide work experience opportunities, mentoring and career workshops with the aim of improving awareness of, and access to, the legal profession.

We have joined and developed a number of programmes to help equip young people for careers in law, supporting them as they move through school, university and into the early stages of employment.

Pennclusion

Underpinning our DEI approach is our programme of committees, which we call Pennclusion. Each core DEI strand has a dedicated Pennclusion committee, complemented by sub-committees and working groups that help drive our efforts to build and sustain an inclusive culture throughout the firm. These groups play an important role in raising awareness, educating our people, benchmarking progress and creating safe spaces for all identities.

EMpower programme

We are addressing low representation of Black and ethnic minority individuals in the legal sector through our annual EMpower programme. This is open to all first-year law students, as well as penultimate-year and final-year non-law students from a Black or ethnic minority heritage. The programme provides a unique opportunity for students to seek advice on how to apply for jobs and build networking skills, as well as to gain invaluable experience through meeting our lawyers, work shadowing and understanding our unique culture.

Our DEI partnerships

PRIME

We are a signatory to the PRIME initiative to improve socio-economic diversity by encouraging meaningful work experience opportunities for students from low-income backgrounds in law firms across the UK and Republic of Ireland. We review our programme each year to maintain a fresh approach. Students interested in gaining work experience at the firm can find out more on our trainee lawyer pages, which include full details on how to apply.

upReach

We partner with upReach, a charity that provides intensive career coaching to undergraduates from the most disadvantaged backgrounds to help them access top graduate jobs. This strengthens our A-level work experience programme – a week-long placement in our legal teams for students from low-income backgrounds to understand career options available in a law firm through interactive sessions and work-shadowing.

Social Mobility Foundation

With support from the Social Mobility Foundation, we launched a tuition fee scholarship programme to assist students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds throughout their undergraduate law degrees. We are currently partnering with two students who have completed their first year of university education and give them ongoing guidance including work experience and skills training.

Women in Law Pledge

As part of our commitment to gender equality in the legal profession, we have signed the Law Society’s Women in Law Pledge. Created in partnership with the Bar Council of England and Wales and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the pledge is designed to make gender equality a priority.

Penningtons Manches Cooper pledges to promote gender equality by:

focusing on senior leadership accountability;
continuing to drive and refine our gender pay action plan; and
creating a culture we’re proud of by removing sex discrimination, bias or bullying, and ensuring that pay, reward and recognition are fair.

Mental health

We take a strategic approach to tackling mental health problems and have achieved tangible success in understanding them and changing attitudes to them at all levels of our business.

As well as our mental health sub-committee, we have recruited and trained mental health first aiders and champions from all areas of our business who offer valuable peer support. By rolling out carefully tailored training and toolkits, we have equipped team leaders to manage mental illness empathetically and constructively. We run a variety of ongoing awareness sessions on stress, resilience, and related areas to improve understanding of mental health issues.