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My name is Tamsin McCarthy. My pronouns are she/her/hers and I'm the Diversity and Inclusion manager at DWF. My role is to implement our diversity inclusion strategy on a global level.
Here at DWF we want to create a diverse and inclusive environment as much as possible in order to reflect our clients and the communities in which we operate. We also want to create an environment where our colleagues can feel that they can be themselves regardless of their background or their characteristics.
Diversity and Inclusion is fundamental to how we operate at DWF and it forms part of our environmental social governance strategy. As such we produce new are around Diversity and Inclusion that are stretching and show our ambition in this area. We've got an overarching diversity and inclusion strategy which we publicly released in 2021 and this was created by our diversity and Inclusion Leadership Group. Within this we have a number of senior leaders and diversity champions, so more than 70 people within that group across 10 different countries. We meet on a quarterly basis to develop and implement actions throughout our organisation. We also use data to spot issues, remove barriers and also track our progress to make sure that we are achieving what we set out to do.
We have five diversity and inclusion employee networks. These cover gender, race, disability, LGBT QA and mental health. Running through these diversity networks, we also have the themes of age, social mobility and agile working. Our networks are designed to support our colleagues and also empower allies. We worked together to celebrate diversity and inclusion events, but also to support and educate one another and our networks are open to everybody to contribute. They are a great way to build networks as well as access support and build awareness.
Diversity and inclusion is becoming more and more important to all organisations and individuals, but from a legal sector perspective, I think there's lots of myths and traditions to navigate when you're trying to access the legal profession and what we want to do. DWF continues to address those barriers and work hard to ensure that everybody can contribute at the highest levels. We understand the value that diversity of thought can bring and what that can contribute to an organization.
In terms of innovation and subsequent success, we also value the opportunity to collaborate with our clients and our on our stakeholders in our communities, on things like diversity and inclusion events and topics. Its great way for us to learn about our stakeholders and to develop those relationships, but also for us to be able to share best practice. We also understand the importance of creating a sense of belonging within our organization and the role that that can play in attracting, retaining and supporting the best talent throughout their employee journey, we want everybody to feel that they can be themselves and be their best within DWF.
