In July 2009, the Society of Asian Lawyers and the Law Society launched its Diversity and Inclusion Charter - the legal profession's flagship diversity initiative. The Charter is a public commitment by legal service providers to develop and implement best practice on equality, diversity and inclusion - as employers, as providers of legal services, as purchasers of goods and services and in their wider roles in society.

The Society of Asian Lawyers have worked on this project for the last 3 years, having initiated the project and with the assistance of the Law Society and BT, developed it to fruition.

The Charter's founding signatories, who also commit to the annual publication of the diversity profile of their UK staff and to collaborative action with other charter signatories, are comprised of 40 leading law firms.

Purchasers of legal services supportive of the aims of the Charter and keen to positively promote supplier diversity are also invited to adopt the Protocol on the procurement of legal services. The Protocol is a simple commitment to collecting and considering standard diversity information from any law firms tendering for work using a model questionnaire and founding protocol partners include BP, Barclays and HSBC, Birmingham City Council and the London Boroughs Legal Alliance.

The Society of Asian Lawyers and BT were the original founding partners.

SAL chairman Sundeep Bhatia said the charter did not only pay lip service to diversity issues, but was a ‘scheme with substance’ which would benefit ethnic minority lawyers. ‘SAL is happy to endorse the charter and continue our active involvement with it.’

Sailesh Mehta, the originator of the Charter and a former Chair of the Society of Asian Lawyers, said "The Charter is an opportunity to unite important work across all strands of diversity within the profession and the Society of Asian Lawyers is extremely proud to have led its development. This will be the most significant initiative in the profession for a decade"

Anne Fletcher, Group General Counsel, BT, says diversity is key to their business "the introduction of the Charter will raise awareness of the issue across the profession and the Procurement Protocol will ensure its place as a key factor in the procurement of external legal services".

Paul Marsh, Law Society President, says: "Commitment is the foundation but action is the key and work will now begin to develop a range of tools and resources to enable all signatories to realise their commitments. The diversity of the founding Protocol partners demonstrates that supplier diversity is a key issue for organisations whether they are global corporations, local authorities or emergency services providers and that the Protocol is a practical tool suitable for use by all.

Linklaters and Eversheds sponsored the launch.

Alan Jenkins, chairman of Eversheds, winners of the 2008 Excellence Awards in Equality and Diversity, said solving diversity and inclusion issues in the legal sphere must remain a priority, even in these difficult economic times. ‘We are looking forward to working with clients and other law firms as, together, we continue to break down boundaries and keep diversity and inclusion at the top of our agenda.’

Simon Davies, Linklaters Firmwide Managing Partner says: "One of our priorities is to ensure we build a diverse, inclusive culture. Our goal is to foster a working environment in which individual differences are respected and valued, and everyone has the opportunity to excel.”

Paul Marsh said the more signatories and protocol partners we secure, the more impact it will have for everyone: "The commitment already made by the founding signatories of the Charter is testament to the depth of commitment by the profession to ensuring that it is diverse and inclusive. We’re looking forward to developing more protocols – practical tools to deliver diversity across the profession.

"The founding signatories and protocol partners have shown admirable leadership but the launch event, this evening, is just the beginning of a campaign to engage and recruit the whole profession and as many purchasers of legal services as possible".

For a full list of signatories, sign up to the Charter and find out more Diversity Charter

The Charter is also supported by the following organisations:

• Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors
• Commerce & Industry Group
• Lawyers with Disabilities Division
• Race for Opportunity
• Society of Asian Lawyers
• Solicitors in Local Government