Law firm targets equality accreditation

Friday 23 June 2017

A Jersey law firm is aiming to be the first in the Channel Islands to gain independent accreditation for having a diverse, fair and accepting workplace culture.

Benest Corbett Renouf has enrolled in the DIFERA scheme run by Channel Islands equality and diversity charity, Liberate.

Organisations seeking accreditation via the DIFERA Scheme provide their own policies for review by the charity and have to be willing to be audited by Liberate through an anonymised questionnaire which all staff are encouraged to respond to, so that any improvements necessary may be made and the resulting standards retained through an annual review.

Honorary CEO of Liberate, Vic Tanner Davy, said: “DIFERA is Liberate’s employer accreditation scheme.  This is the first scheme in the Channel Islands to award organisations with a quality mark that demonstrates to employees (past, present and future), to clients and suppliers that your organisation places Diversity, Inclusion, Fairness, Equality, Respect and Acceptance at the heart of what you do. The legal profession has a reputation for not being diverse, but forward-thinking firms are recognising this as a weakness and doing their best to become more inclusive. We are, therefore, delighted that Benest Corbett Renouf are joining the DIFERA scheme and we hope that other law firms will follow their lead soon.”

Wendy Lambert, Partner at Benest Corbett Renouf, said: “We view our enrolment in the DIFERA scheme as a fantastic opportunity to be assessed independently by a ground-breaking charity and to be educated further about diversity and inclusion.  We have a thriving team and believe that this initiative will only help the positive culture of the firm to develop. In addition, many clients seek our professional advice about employment and discrimination law issues and being members of Liberate’s DIFERA scheme will help to build client confidence by showing our willingness to seek training and scrutiny ourselves.  In other words, we practice what we preach to other organisations and businesses.”