Diversity Clifford Chance is a culturally diverse and international working environment. Our rapid growth and history of strategic mergers has given rise to a firm that draws together people from different cultures and with different perspectives from around the world. In fact, in 2009 we attracted applications from more than 70 nationalities and over 150 universities.

This cultural diversity is a great advantage in developing solutions and advice for our clients and creating an environment where ideas and opinion can flow freely. But diversity isn't just good for our business - it's also right for our business. We are committed to further widening access to the legal profession, and ensuring that all of our people enjoy the same opportunities to develop lasting, rewarding careers.

Accessing legal careers

In our search for highly talented individuals, we know that, historically, students from disadvantaged backgrounds have not had the same access to further education, and ultimately to City jobs. We are, therefore, involved in a number of initiatives to raise aspirations among these students with a view to broadening our talent pool. We are engaged with:

• Target Chances - an annual open day for ethnic minority students interested in pursuing a career in law.
• Social Mobility Foundation - we provide work experience and support to Year 12 students from disadvantaged backgrounds, as they navigate their way through their career and university choices.
• Pathways to Law - we provide support to students from under-represented backgrounds through lectures, seminars and a fully interactive conference each year.
• BLD (Black Lawyers Directory) - we sponsor the "Today's Children, Tomorrow's Lawyers" programme, aimed at ethnic minority and disadvantaged 14-17 year olds and support BLD's Black Letter Law publication.
• ACDiversity - we provide mentors to gifted and talented year-10 students from African and Caribbean communities in London.
• Pure Potential - our trainees have served as facilitators at events that provide help and advice about higher education and careers to sixth formers and first-year undergraduates in the state sector.
• Clare College Partnership - Towe Hamlets students visit Cambridge University and experience the teaching first hand.

Career development

We are committed to ensuring that all our people benefit from the same opportunities to enjoy rich, fulfilling long-term careers and have implemented a number of initiatives to support this goal:

• Diversity training - everyone joining our firm participates in diversity training to help them integrate, work with and be sensitive to people from all backgrounds, faiths, and lifestyles - whether clients or colleagues.
• London Women's Network - Clifford Chance aims to work towards retaining a greater proportion of women at all levels in the firm, advancing the careers of women and providing business opportunities through internal and external networking.
• Arcus - our global networking group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) colleagues aims to encourage an inclusive culture throughout the firm and enable colleagues to be open and out. Arcus, named from the Latin term for rainbow, facilitates internal and external networking opportunities, assists with the development of policies and contributes to a range of pro bono initiatives relating to civil liberties and human rights of LGBT people. In addition the firm supports a number of initiatives to ensure that colleagues from all religious faiths can work effectively within our teams whilst observing the requirements of their faiths. These include an all-faith prayer room and a holiday trading scheme, which allows colleagues to ‘buy' additional leave to observe religious holidays.

Memberships

The firm is also a member of a number of important diversity-related groups including:

• Opportunity Now
• Stonewall
• Employers' Forum on Disability
• Employers Forum on Belief
• Interlaw Diversity Forum
• Law Society Diversity Charter
• Working Families

Further details of our diversity programmes can be found at www.cliffordchance.com/cr