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We remain committed to increasing transparency about our progress as we build a more inclusive, diverse and equitable business. Inclusion is a team effort at °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ. No single person is responsible for this work — it takes all of us and we are extremely proud of the great work that our colleagues do every day to help us stay at the forefront of society’s biggest issues.

Diversity & Inclusion sits at the centre of our firm’s strategy. It is driven by our leadership and built into the performance objectives of all of our Partners. We recognise that overcoming the barriers standing in the way of a more equal workplace will take time and persistence. Nonetheless, we are confident we have the right strategy in place to drive this change now and over the long term.

Pay gap reporting can be a useful tool to help our business to understand its composition and where there may still be inequities. There is clearly more we need to do to address some of the challenges we face, and progress overall is slower than we would like. That being said, we must also acknowledge that our long-term goal of truly changing the legal profession and building a sustainable pipeline of diverse talent might run the risk of temporarily widening some of our pay gaps, as we focus on bringing more diversity into the firm. It is also prudent to intensify our focus on nurturing, developing, progressing and retaining our employees if we are to make a truly lasting difference.

Last year, in addition to publishing our gender and ethnicity pay gaps, we introduced disability pay gap reporting. We believe it is incredibly important to look at the diversity of our firm more broadly and this helps us understand where we need to apply focus. This year we have also decided to introduce social mobility into our pay gap reporting.

We are delighted to have retained our number 1 UK employer ranking on the Social Mobility Index 2022 in recognition of the work we are doing to help remove barriers and open access to the legal sector for all. We are also incredibly proud to have launched our REACH Mentoring programme with the aim of supporting, developing and building a future pipeline of next generation talented Black lawyers.

We are making positive strides towards meeting the diversity targets we set for our Partnership population back in 2021 and have an ambition to have a minimum of 50% female and 12% UK Ethnic Minority representation by 2026.

Overall, we believe that we have continued to make some meaningful progress since we last reported. Towards the end of this report, we have set out the steps and measures that we have put in place, and will put in place, to address and close any gaps.

Our commitment is unwavering.

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