Diversity & Inclusion

We know an inclusive culture, alongside a diverse workforce, makes us more innovative and agile. Diversity and inclusion in all that we do: our ambition is to have a culture built on empathy and respect, where identity is never a barrier to success, and we all have the freedom to be ourselves. To be inspired by the possibilities that diversity offers our people, our clients, and our firm. To reflect the diversity of the communities and societies we operate in and to be inclusive in all that we do.

You can view our D&I strategy here.

Our employee networks

Embrace is an award-winning, non-exclusive, and supportive community that welcomes employees of all cultural and racial backgrounds. Embrace is a network for those who relate to, identify with, appreciate, or celebrate culture, religion, history, and experience. The mission is to raise awareness on multiculturalism in the workplace, create an internal network of support, collaborate with leadership in the firm to enhance diversity and inclusion and host socials and events.

StandOUT provides a supportive framework for our LGBTQ+ staff and allies, by representing their views and promoting a culture of diversity and inclusion. StandOUT organise internal and external events and initiatives to raise awareness and educate all employees about our LGBTQ+ community.

NeuroNetwork celebrates neurodiverse minds and all ways of thinking in the workplace. Neurodivergent people can bring unique abilities and qualities to the workplace, but also face challenges and can feel unsupported. The network is a place of support, education, and inclusivity in the firm, to eradicate the challenges faced by neurodivergent colleagues.

Beyond Backgrounds is our social mobility network to increase awareness and visibility of our efforts within the social mobility space and provide a launchpad to build on these efforts. The mission is to foster an inclusive and supportive workplace culture for individuals from less privileged and more diverse social backgrounds, from how we recruit to how we promote.

Multi-Faith Groups is a broader network for all faith networks within the firm, including Muslim, Jewish, and Christian groups.

Inclusive recruitment

From attraction and marketing, to recruitment and selection; the Bird & Bird Early Careers team is committed to diversity and inclusion, social mobility, and equality. 

We want to attract and recruit the brightest and best aspiring lawyers from all walks of life. In 2019, we made the active decision to not target individual schools, colleges, or universities as part of our sustainability and diversity initiative. Rather than attending selected campuses, we partner with charities, publications, and organisations to promote our opportunities to aspiring solicitors no matter their background or education. We recruit from all schools, colleges, universities, and degree subjects.

To increase diversity in the legal professional, we work with different partnerships to educate and equip aspiring solicitors with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed (e.g., 10,000 Black Interns, Aspiring Solicitors, Bright Network, GROW Mentoring, Target Jobs, Vantage, and Young Professionals).

To offer equal opportunities to aspiring solicitors, we no longer offer ad-hoc work experience to Bird & Bird employee contacts or clients, and instead, promote our Virtual Experience Programme to all aspiring solicitors. We also host skill sessions and workshops with partnerships and publish advice on our employability hub, ‘The Nest’.

To widen accessibility to law, we use a mostly virtual recruitment process and online attraction season. We look for the candidate’s potential to achieve, rather than disproportionally focus on what has happened in the past. However, to ensure we understand how a candidate’s background may have impacted their performance we introduced a Contextual Recruitment System (CRS) into our recruitment process in 2018. We also operate blind screening, which means that all unnecessary identification information is removed from an application form before being reviewed by the team to minimise bias. Similarly, we don’t share a candidate’s application form with interviewers so that all decisions are based solely on what takes place in the interview.

To build a barrier-free recruitment process where everyone feels supported to succeed, we offer confidential advice to candidates with a disability, neurodiversity, mental health, and/or long-term health problems on adjustments at each stage of the recruitment process. All candidates receive a practice Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking test and video interview prior to the real assessment, alongside useful tips and guidance to tackle these new experiences. There is no time limit on the Watson-Glaser to focus on a candidate’s performance rather than output under time pressure. At the assessment centre stage and prior to vacation schemes, candidates receive a preparation guide detailing the upcoming assessments and how to be successful to ensure transparency, fairness, and a level playing field for all candidates.