Baker McKenzie sets new gender staffing targets
Baker McKenzie has set new gender staffing targets, the first global law firm to do so, with a 40:40:20 percent gender diversity, to represent 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men and 20 per cent flexible, representing women, men or non-binary persons.
The target applies to partners, senior business professionals, firm committee leadership and candidate pools for recruitment, the law firm said.
Baker McKenzie has set a target date of July 1, 2025, to achieve the gender balance, and all candidate pools for external recruitment for partners or senior business professionals should meet the new targets from now on.
From July 2020, in offices which do not yet have at least 25 per cent women partners, at least 25 percent, or one out of four, partner promotions should be a woman, the firm stated.
Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort (pictured), global diversity and inclusion committee chair and member of Baker McKenzie’s global executive committee, said: “We have made a big step towards providing equal opportunities for women with the overwhelming support of our senior leadership. Twenty years after electing the first female chair of any global law firm, I am proud to say that once again Baker McKenzie is leading the way in the legal sector”.
“We have a strong commitment to recruiting a diverse pool of talent and creating an inclusive workplace environment where our people are able to reach their fullest potential. We believe diversity makes us stronger, and better placed to serve our clients, and the communities in which we work,” she added.
As reported by The Latin American Lawyer, in May Baker McKenzie Mexico announced a new parental leave and flexible work policy for its more than 450 employees in the country, extending paternal and maternal leave and introducing flexible and remote working arrangements.
