Apply now!Building DE&I into the DNA of our business
What Diversity means to Addleshaw Goddard
At Addleshaw Goddard, we recognise that an inclusive culture is essential to attracting, retaining and enabling our people to be the best they can be – whatever their background.
In 2020 we introduced a new, Board‑approved inclusion strategy, which is now embedded within our AG2030 Vision. Key features include:
- Clear senior leadership responsibility across five strands of inclusion: Disability, Ethnicity, Gender, LGBTQ+ and Social Mobility.
- Firm‑wide representation targets for gender and ethnicity.
- Short‑, medium‑ and long‑term goals to keep us accountable and ensure our strategy evolves with the needs of our people.
Our objectives are to:
- Improve the diversity of our workforce by attracting the best talent irrespective of background or protected characteristic.
- Nurture a culture centred on equity, inclusion and mutual respect so that everyone feels they belong and can thrive.
- Be recognised in the legal sector for flexibility, inclusivity and innovation in DE&I.
Networks and Communities
A core part of our programme is the investment in our employee networks and faith communities, which now have over 600 members. These are open to colleagues with lived experience and allies, and include:
- OpenAG (LGBTQ+)
- AG Embrace (Ethnicity)
- The Vine (Gender)
- The Ability Forum (Disability and Carers)
- The SMART Network (Social Mobility)
- Jewish Network
- Christian Network
- Hindu, Sikh and Jain Network
- Muslim Network
Our networks:
- Provide community, mentoring and peer support.
- Shape our policies and initiatives through lived experience and feedback.
- Run events, awareness campaigns and skills-building sessions across our offices.
- Help us collaborate with clients and external organisations on inclusion.
As an early careers colleague, you can join any network as a member or ally, take part in events, access mentoring opportunities and contribute to the firm’s inclusion agenda.
How early careers colleagues benefit
Our DE&I strategy directly informs how we attract and support trainees, apprentices and business services colleagues, including:
- More inclusive recruitment processes, such as contextual recruitment and blind recruitment, designed to focus on potential rather than background.
- Multiple entry routes into the profession, including our solicitor and business services apprenticeship programmes.
- Targeted outreach and mentoring – through initiatives such as Ethnicity.Talent.Law, Legal Explorers and joint mentoring programmes with clients – supporting talented students from under‑represented and less‑advantaged backgrounds.
- Practical support once you join, including workplace adjustments, wellbeing resources and access to specialist policies and programmes (for example, fertility support and parental pods).
Measuring impact and recent achievements
We monitor progress and impact through annual diversity audits, inclusion surveys and UK (covering gender, ethnicity and, in the UK, disability, social mobility and LGBTQ+) and Dublin pay gap reporting These data sets help us track progress against our 2027 representation targets and refine our strategy each year.
Recent external recognition for our DE&I work includes:
- Listed in the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality for the 17th time in 2026.
- Ranked 5th in the Social Mobility Foundation Employer Index (2025).
- Disability Confident Employer accreditation.
- Fertility Friendly Employer accreditation.
- “Leader” status in Stonewall’s Proud Employers scheme (2026).
- Innovation in Diversity Award at the 2024 Legal Innovation and Technology Awards for our neurodiversity programme.
- “Best LGBT Initiative of the Year” at both the Women and Diversity in Law Awards 2025 and the Legal 500 ESG Awards 2025 for our LGBTQ+ Legal‑Leaders Programme.
- Disability/Neurodiversity: Best Initiative to Attract and Retain Talent at the Legal 500 ESG Awards for the Legal Neurodiversity Network, which AG co‑founded.
We are also active members of external inclusion partnerships including Interlaw Diversity Forum, the Legal Neurodiversity Network, WorkLife Central, Black Solicitors Network, NOTICED, Stonewall, the Valuable 500, and PRIME.
Removing barriers so that talent can shine
- A key focus for Addleshaw Goddard is diversifying our trainee talent. To do this we have partnered with an external organisation, Rare, to introduce contextual recruitment and accountability into our graduate hiring process.
- Contextual recruitment looks at the context of academic achievement, and identifies candidates who have surpassed expectations or performed excellently in conditions of adversity.
- We have also removed our minimum A-level requirement to allow a more diverse pool of candidates to apply for training contracts at Addleshaw Goddard.
- We review your application without personal information to ensure we do not allow bias of any kind to affect the process.
- We have also increased the training for everyone involved in the recruitment process to ensure that we select people based on their ability, potential and nothing else.
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Diversity Access Schemes
We nurture strong links with reputable social mobility schemes and professional diversity networks such as Aspiring Solicitors, Upskill Me, Leadership Through Sport and Business, and PRIME and value their support and expertise when reaching out to untapped talent from non-traditional backgrounds.
We are signatories of the Social Mobility Business Compact: a government-led initiative which aims to reduce elitism and improve social mobility by encouraging businesses to open opportunities to everyone.
In 2024, we proudly partnered with Aspiring Solicitors as the founding member of the SMART Commitment initiative. This programme offers financial support to socially diverse candidates participating in the firm’s placement scheme and to our future trainees.
We have always invested and partnered with local communities, schools and networks who are keen to raise the aspirations of young people – and will continue to do so by offering young talent opportunities to take part in quality work experience programmes and internships.
PRIME
We are a founding member of PRIME, an initiative through which law firms provide quality work experience placements to underprivileged school-age students. We work with local primary and secondary schools across London, Leeds, Manchester, Dublin and Edinburgh to inspire young people to fulfil their potential.
Legal Explorers
In 2023 we launched the AG Legal Explorer programme – a year-long programme offering mentoring, a laptop and work shadowing opportunities for socially diverse students. The programme now runs across offices in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dublin, Leeds, London and Manchester and will focus on preparing students to take the next step in their careers, such as applying for university or apprenticeship.
Sonia McMahon Award
This award was established following the death of a colleague, Sonia McMahon. Sonia was a champion of inclusion and was passionate about providing greater opportunities for those from less privileged backgrounds. The award is open to current law students and awards the two winners a £5,000 bursary (each), 12 months of mentoring and a week of work experience at the firm.
Legal Access Scheme
Our award-winning Legal Access Scheme offers bright BPP University Law School students from unconventional or less privileged backgrounds a place on our summer placement programme. 26 candidates from this scheme have secured training contracts with us since its creation in 2007.
Lawscot Foundation
We have partnered with LawScot Foundation to enable the opportunity for candidates from less privileged backgrounds a place on our summer placement scheme, along with providing a bursary for one candidate each year. We have our first trainee from this scheme starting with us in 2027.
Street Law
Street Law involves working with young people in schools to provide information about law and their rights and responsibilities. We work with low progression secondary schools to help raise aspirations and encourage young people to think about law as a possible career option, as well as providing useful legal information using interactive methods.
Diversity Data
- UK female partners34%
- UK female fee earners57%
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