Diversity statistics

Keeping records on the diversity of our staff is an important part of Herbert Smith's commitment to diversity, helping us monitor the firm's progress in developing a diverse workforce.

The table linked below clearly shows where the main challenges lie for Herbert Smith (and indeed for all major City firms): female and ethnic representation at partner level, the need to persuade people with a disability to consider a career with us and further encouragement to those of our staff interested in working on a part-time basis. Note – we can only currently produce diversity statistics for our London offices.  There are a number of reasons why we are unable to publish them globally at the moment.  For example, in France, labour law states you cannot ask employees to provide diversity statistics about themselves.  And if we were to use the same metrics in our Asia offices, our declared ethnic minority figures for non-white employees would look a lot more favourable, but wouldn't be a true reflection of diversity in our workforce.

We are making progress but recognise it will take time to establish the depth of diversity at all levels of the firm we want to have. Please visit www.herbertsmith.com to see our latest statistics.