Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a core part of our approach to leading the way on responsible business and a key element of our strategic objectives.
That’s why you can expect to see it woven throughout our partner and employee engagement, informing us of our internal policies and procedures, as well as extending to our dealings with clients, suppliers and other third parties.
How we’re making it happen
Our DEI strategy sets out four priority areas to support our ambition to lead the way in DEI: recruitment, the working environment, recognition and reward, and promoting DEI externally. In practice, this means:
- Implementing enhanced inclusive recruitment practices to improve diversity in our recruitment pipeline, with a specific focus on addressing identified areas of underrepresentation at the firm
- Taking a proactive approach to creating an inclusive and respectful environment throughout the firm, so that everyone feels a sense of belonging regardless of their background
- Creating more inclusive pay, reward and promotion processes and actively addressing pay gaps and underrepresentation to create greater diversity with a focus on leadership roles at the firm
- Working with new and existing clients to champion DEI, promote best practices, and maximise the impact of activities across a range of sectors.
It’s a team effort
To make sure our efforts to improve and promote DEI are embedded throughout the business, we’ve created a network of employee resource groups to support our people, raise awareness, and promote positive action.
WBD Disability and Neurodiversity
WBD Family and Carers
WBD Pride
WBD Reach
WBD Thrive
Supporting those who identify as disabled or have a long-term condition, by reforming policies and processes, improving accessibility, and embracing neurodiversity to cultivate a culture of inclusiveness
Our network for connecting and supporting colleagues who care for others (whatever their age and stage), provides valuable peer-to-peer connections, ensuring that anyone with caring responsibilities feels fully supported in our workplace.
Supporting our LGBTQ+ people and allies, WBD Pride creates an environment where everyone feels able to bring their whole selves to work.
Reach stands for race, ethnicity and cultural heritage. The network is open to all colleagues and works to improve ethnic diversity at the firm, offer focused training, provide peer support, and raise awareness of issues relating to race equality.
Supporting women across all levels and all areas of the business, to ensure they achieve their full potential at the firm. Thrive raises awareness of issues and supports initiatives to drive change.
“With the support from our diversity, equity and inclusion networks as well as our Board, we pride ourselves on our open and inclusive culture, in which our differences are valued and celebrated. We continue to build on what we’ve achieved so far, working with our networks and clients to drive positive change, not just in our firm but across the whole legal profession and our supply chain.”
Sally Dallow, Partner Lead for Responsible Business
Monitoring our progress
We’re continually enhancing our DEI data capture and analysis to ensure our actions are aligned to meet our DEI objectives and make a positive impact.
Each financial year, we publish our Responsible Business report (2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25), striving to promote Responsible Business practices across the firm.
We also publish our gender pay gap report every year. (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025). We're working hard to improve gender representation across the firm.
Celebrating our progress
Our work has been recognised and accredited by a number of organisations, and our memberships are carefully chosen to enhance our knowledge and support our people. Below is a snapshot of our accreditations and memberships:
Stay informed
