A Jersey law firm has become the first within the Channel Islands’ legal sector to receive independent accreditation for having a diverse, fair and accepting workplace culture.
BCR Law enrolled in the DIFERA scheme run by the equality and diversity charity, Liberate, in June 2017. As part of its accreditation, the firm’s recruitment, staff training and other policies were reviewed by the charity and the firm’s culture was assessed through an anonymised staff questionnaire.
The law firm will now appoint champions to promote the principles of the scheme to new and current staff. They’ll receive training supported by Liberate, covering the principles of diversity, equality and fairness in the workplace. They will in turn train their colleagues.
Honorary CEO of Liberate, Vic Tanner Davy, said: “Liberate is delighted that BCR Law is the first law firm to receive the DIFERA accreditation. We are looking forward to working with them to create their champions group and strategy for the next two years. We were very impressed with the work that BCR Law has done to date in this area and they are worthy recipients of the accreditation.”
DIFERA stands for Diversity, Inclusion, Fairness, Equality, Respect and Acceptance and is the first Channel Islands quality mark for companies that demonstrates that ethos has been placed at the heart of an organisation’s culture.
Wendy Lambert, Partner at BCR Law, said: “We felt it was important for BCR Law to be assessed independently by a ground-breaking organisation and to be educated further about diversity and inclusion to enhance the positive culture of the firm. It offers further opportunities for staff engagement and will also enhance client confidence by showing our willingness to seek training and scrutiny ourselves. We’re proud to demonstrate this to our clients, as well as to other organisations and businesses.”
