Herbert Smith on diversity drive with unconscious bias training

As pressure continues to mount on the legal sector regarding the diversity of its workforce, Herbert Smith has announced that it will commence piloting unconscious bias training for its partners on 30 May. As reported in Legal Week, Herbert Smith will soon be joined by other firms such as Addleshaw Goddard and Hogan Lovells, which are both set to implement new diversity initiatives in the coming months.

Herbert Smith's initial pilot will involve 20 of its London partners before the scheme is expanded to all partners at the firm. The training is intended to help partners identify and combat the kinds of unconsciously biased behaviour and decisions that could hinder women from attaining partnership positions, and is a result of the recommendations of the firm's gender committee, set up in September 2011.

Stephen Wilkinson, the committee chair and joint head of mergers and acquisitions at Herbert Smith, said: "We set up the gender group last autumn to consider the issue of women in partnership and to find new and improved ways of retaining talented female lawyers and improving gender balance in the partnership. The recommendations of the gender report, accepted in full by the executive, now form the key programmes within our gender initiative."