Diversity & Equality

We are committed to giving everyone an opportunity to succeed, regardless of their background, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, disability, religion or belief, age, social background or part-time status. We are proud to be as diverse as our clients.

We believe that our inclusive attitude and eagerness to try new things gives us an edge in the legal field. For example, we pick our trainees and graduates based on their talent rather than the name of their university. From finding innovative ways of working to building trust in our varied clients, diversity underpins our success. Our aim is to attract, develop and retain the brightest lawyers in the UK from many walks of life.

Click here to view our diversity and inclusion strategy 2022/25

An award-winning and nationally recognised firm

Diversity is not just a box-ticking exercise for us. We are proud to be nationally recognised as an equal opportunities employer, and of the work we are doing to champion diversity and inclusion within our firm and the wider legal sector.

Freeths are also:

• Stonewall Diversity Champions
• Signatories of Business Disability Forum and are currently working through our Action Plan following a recent audit of our processes from an accessibility and disability inclusion perspective
• An employer member of the Tommy’s Pregnancy and Parenting at Work programme
• An employer member of Working Families and we are happy to talk flexible working in relation to any of our vacancies
• Active in the communities, using our D&I pledge to engage with local and national projects such as action tutoring, or locally the brilliant club (from our Oxford office) amongst other projects
• Run numerous mentoring schemes partnering with local universities and colleges across the UK with a specific focus on widening participation and inspiring future generations of lawyers.
• We are signed up to Project Rise, a programme sponsored by the Law Society's Disables Solicitors Network to offer part time training opportunities for aspiring lawyers.

Also:

• The Legal Scholarship scheme – a bursary and paid work experience at our Milton Keynes office
• Our corporate social responsibility programme encompasses a wide range of fundraising initiatives for both local and national charities each year
• We have trained a network of over 50  mental health first aiders
• We are members of NOTICED – the UK’s first inter-law diversity forum hosting events, training and networking opportunities aimed at increasing diversity within the legal profession
• We were part of the breaking down barriers to law project aimed at tackling social mobility within the legal sector.
• For us, it's important that our activities under ESG are aligned.  As an incentive to sign up to our D&I pledge we committed to planting a tree for every person who signed up in the first year of launching the pledge, so over a 2 years partnership with the Tree Council, we will be planting 500 trees

Diversity & equal opportunities policy in action

Our diversity and equal opportunities policy is at the heart of our recruitment, employment, promotion and training. Individuals are selected, promoted and treated on the basis of their abilities and merits. We are active in rewarding enthusiastic, motivated people with a healthy work-life balance and great benefits.

We do more than just comply with the law. In addition to fair employment, our policy of non-discrimination extends to dealing with customers, providing our services, and appointing counsel and other experts.

You can expect to be treated with the respect, courtesy and consideration that we show to each other.

Click here to view our diversity report summer 2022

Click here to view our Modern Slavery Act 2015 statement

Click here to view our gender pay gap report