SA Law is committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I) within the firm as well as in the areas in which it has influence. As you would expect, this commitment is embedded in our policies and procedures, but also in our behaviours, communication, and marketing.
Taking action
Engaging every member of the team in our ED&I approach is central to our success. Team members are provided with equality and diversity training and guidance appropriate to their needs and responsibilities. Our ED&I SMART objectives are set, shared and communicated across the firm each year, and all are encouraged to contribute. We also gather diversity information during the recruitment process and from existing team members through a confidential annual survey so that we can monitor the effectiveness of our ED&I policies and actions on our recruitment processes as well as on team development and retention.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Our ED&I Committee is dedicated to championing the firm’s diverse workforce and aims to identify SA Law’s strengths and opportunities relating to diversity and inclusion. Committee members represent and reflect the diversity of our team and our clients. At present, we have seven committee members representing diverse demographics such as age, disability, race and LGBTQ+. The ED&I Committee is responsible for putting diversity initiatives in place within the firm and monitoring the impact of such initiatives in a continuous cycle of equality audit. One such initiative involved becoming accredited for member of the Disability Confident Committed scheme.
Race, Ethnicity and Heritage Network
The firm has also established a Race, Ethnicity and Heritage Network (“Network”) to provide support for team members of underrepresented race or ethnicities within the legal field, which feeds concerns and issues to the ED&I Committee. However, the Network is predominantly for colleagues from similar backgrounds to provide each other with guidance and mentorship.
Wellbeing Team
Alongside the ED&I Committee and Network, our Wellbeing Team works to support a culture that promotes the physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing of all employees and partners from all backgrounds and all walks of life. Many in the Wellbeing Team are qualified mental health and first aid champions who support colleagues outside their immediate team/line management or HR and are responsible for creating and implementing a Wellbeing Strategy for the firm.
