Diverse VSP

At Maclay Murray & Spens LLP we value diversity of our people and strive to create an inclusive and accessible environment for our staff, clients and suppliers.

We recognise the link between equality and quality and so are committed to treating everyone fairly irrespective of age, gender, marital or civil partner status, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, disability, race, colour, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin or any other protected characteristic for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

We recognise that our staff and clients should experience a professional, safe and harassment free environment. All of our staff and partners have the responsibility to value and respect everyone's unique contribution coming from a variety of backgrounds. We will not tolerate any form of unlawful discrimination, victimisation or harassment.

These values are reflected in our policies and procedures. This is not limited to areas of recruitment, training and development and promotion, as we are also mindful of ensuring accessibility and equal treatment for our clients and suppliers.

We believe that promoting diversity means creating an inclusive work environment and we can demonstrate this commitment by:

Monitoring legislation and case law and amending our practices or procedures appropriately
Carrying out equality and diversity monitoring to enable us to take positive action where appropriate
Informing and training our Partners and staff to ensure they understand and meet our equality and diversity standards
Treating any acts of discrimination, victimisation or harassment as a disciplinary offence
Communicating with Staff on the development and implementation of our Equality & Diversity Plan through our Staff Forum
Reaching out to our community through CSR activities which also reflect our equality and diversity values

Diversity in the Legal Profession

The Firm participate in the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) annual 'Diversity in the Legal Profession' data collection exercise. As part of this we are required to publish a summary of our workforce diversity data. All who work in our London office are invited to complete the data collection exercise and in the most recent survey, 51% of those eligible completed it.

Of those who completed the exercise:

10 were partners
33 were other fee earners including solicitors
5 were non fee earners (including secretarial and support staff).

This summary covers 6 areas of diversity data.

Age

60% of partners were in the 35 - 44 category with the remainder being aged 45 and above
76% of fee earners are under 34 , 15% between 35 - 44 and 9% over 55
Non fee earners were split as 20% between 35 - 44, 60% between 45 - 54 and 20% over 55

Gender

70% of partners who responded in the London office were male and 30% female
Fee earners were 24% male and 76% female
Non fee earners were 20% male and 80% female

Disability

None of the respondents considered themselves to have a disability

Ethnicity

71% of respondents were white with 94% of those British English/Welsh/Northern Irish/Scottish
10% were Asian
4% were Black/Caribbean

Socio-economic background

88% of respondents attended school in the UK
Of them, 71% attended state schools and 29% attended fee paying schools. All those who attended fee paying schools were partners and fee-earners
85% had attended University and 44% of those were the first generation in their family to do so.

Caring responsibilities

17% of respondents had primary carer responsibilities for a child. 63% of those were partners
8% of respondents had caring responsibilities of between 1 – 19 hours per week.

The Firm is also a signatory of the Law Society's Diversity and Inclusion Charter.