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Ashurst to make partnership one-third female by 2022
Global law firm Ashurst has set new diversity and inclusion targets to be achieved within the next three financial years, including that women will make up 33 per cent of the firm’s partnership ranks around the world.
Jerome Doraisamy
The Ashurst board, in consultation with its executive team, has laid down new diversity and inclusion targets to be achieved by Financial Year 2022, including that 33 per cent of the global partnership is to be female, 30 per cent of legal management and leadership roles are to be held by women and that 50 per cent of senior business services roles are to be held by women.
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Currently, women hold 24 per cent of global partnership roles, 23 per cent of legal management and leadership roles, 33 per cent of senior business services roles and make up 30 per cent of the global board.
Speaking about the new targets, Ashurst global managing partner Paul Jenkins said targets provide awareness and impetus for change, and that it is critical that the firm ensures sustained focus and can continue to make progress
“Our new target period has been reduced from five to three years for this reason, and we now have a target for the whole partnership, have increased the target for females in leadership roles and introduced a gender target for business services leadership,” he said.
“Since the original gender targets were set, we have seen improvement in the gender balance of promotions to partnership, with 58 per cent of new partners in 2018 being female. We have also made progress with the proportion of women in leadership roles and are pleased that 30 per cent of our board is now female – 50 per cent of the elected positions.”
But, he added, the firm remains “very conscious” of how much more needs to be done.
“Identifying, supporting and developing the pipeline of all female leaders is vital for our business and setting our new diversity and inclusion targets reflects our confidence in the power of aspirational targets to further improve gender balance at the firm,” he posited.
The announcement follows discussion of gender disparity at the bar in Australia, with only four of the 19 new senior counsel appointed in NSW recently being female, and Sydney-based barrister Jane Needham SC suggesting quotas are necessary for equality to be achieved at the bar.
