Fergal Dowling
Managing Partner - Business Services Group
Progressing Diversity & Inclusion
Clients, regulators, suppliers and staff are changing their requirements – and they expect organisations to adapt.
Legal support with Diversity & Inclusion
Investing in knowledge and advice can help you adhere to regulatory requirements, become a destination for the best people, facilitate growth, avoid discrimination, and build an engaged workforce.
There are already mandatory reporting requirements for businesses of a certain size to track and disclose elements like gender pay gap, but we are now also seeing regulators like the FCA broadening these requirements. More can be expected in the future.
Our suite of digital D&I training modules can help you start or evolve your journey towards a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
Why choose our modules:
- Developed by Employment lawyers and D&I specialists
- Delivered online with multiple modules and assessments
- Completion and results are monitored and reported
- Certificates issued upon completion
- Content tailored by sector (where appropriate).
Speak to a member of our team
Our team support you to navigate complexity, seize opportunity and move forward with legal clarity.
Our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive culture
Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is integrated into our policies, processes and day-to-day decisions – for our colleagues, clients, and communities alike.
Embedding D&I across our organisation
We maintain a zero-tolerance culture towards discrimination, bullying, and harassment, and our policies, processes and practices strive to ensure that inclusion is a lived experience for all, regardless of identity. We continue to focus on five priority areas:Making progress through a data led approach
We take a data-driven approach to inclusion, regularly reviewing our diversity metrics and benchmarking against sector standards.
As part of this, we’ve implemented targeted interventions to support recruitment, development, and retention of colleagues from underrepresented groups, as well as completing a review of our workplace adjustments process.
We also share our diversity data with organisations such as the Interlaw Diversity Forum as part of the UK Model Diversity Survey and report to the SRA as per compliance regulations.
Recent milestones include:
- Achieving Disability Confident Leader (Level 3) status, validated by Business Disability Forum
- Relaunching our Reciprocal Mentoring Programme, pairing colleagues from underrepresented groups with senior leaders to foster mutual learning and drive change
- Publishing our Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap Reports.
Empowering through networks and partnerships
Our seven D&I networks—many founded over 15 years ago—play a vital role in raising awareness, promoting conversation, and guiding policy development. These include:
- IM Able – supporting colleagues who are disabled, neurodivergent and with long-term health conditions
- IM Equal – promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion
- IM Aspiring – tackling social mobility in the legal sector
- IM Families – supporting work-life balance and diverse family structures
- IM Generations – addressing age and generational related inclusion
- IM Powered – supporting gender equity in the workplace
- IM Respect – celebrating ethnicity, faith and culture
We also collaborate with external partners such as Evenbreak, Inclusive Employers, and Business Disability Forum to ensure our initiatives are expert led.
Celebrating inclusion and culture
Through our Life at Irwin Mitchell campaign, we celebrate the diverse journeys of our colleagues and spotlight initiatives that drive inclusion.
Between events, storytelling campaigns and inclusive conversations, we use our platforms to amplify voices and foster allyship across the firm.
Contact our Specialists
Get strategic advice from a team that knows how to protect and grow your business. Please complete our enquiry form and one of our experts will contact you by the next working day.
Alternatively, you can call us now.
Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm (Excluding Public Holidays).
0370 1500 100
Making an enquiry
We have several ways you can contact us, either by completing our online contact form, by phone, or using our live chat. If you start your journey online, here are the first steps to working together.
Complete our online formWe need a few details to understand your situation and the kind of support you need.
We’ll contact you by phoneOn the call our experts will ask you a few more questions to make sure we connect you with the right legal advice from our team.
We arrange a full appointmentIf we're able to support you further, the next step is an appointment with one of our specialists so we can discuss everything in more detail.
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