A&L Goodbody has been awarded the prestigious Silver Diversity Mark

Only the ninth company in Northern Ireland and the first local law firm to achieve the accolade, ALG was commended for delivering and committing to a wide-ranging inclusion agenda – described as being “both meaningful and responsive” to the needs of its 120-strong team of lawyers and business support professionals in its Belfast office.

Gregory Martin, diversity partner at ALG’s Belfast office, said: “This accolade is testament to ALG’s drive and commitment to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workforce for current and prospective employees and clients. We continue to invest significant time and effort in progressing our overall diversity agenda, ensuring that both our policies and practices match our commitment to equality and inclusion. Alongside gender diversity, we have focused on other areas of diversity, such as LGBTQ+, disability, ethnicity and social mobility.

“We recognise that respecting, valuing and leveraging the differences that exist in our employees, clients and communities is important to how we do business – both in terms of the service we deliver and in building and sustaining a positive working environment for our people.”

Diversity Mark is a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on enabling and supporting companies of all sizes across the UK and Ireland in achieving an Accreditation to recognise commitment to diversity and inclusion. The Accreditation follows a methodology of self-assessment and prioritises continuous progression, with goals set by and appropriate to each individual organisation.

The Accreditation commits organisations to support the progression of women (or men, if underrepresented) into senior roles by focusing on the executive pipeline and the mid-tier level. It recognises that organisations are diverse and the starting points for each may differ, and thus each organisation will set its own targets, strategy and implementation plan.

Nuala Murphy, interim head of business at Diversity Mark, added: “We are delighted for A&L Goodbody on achieving the Silver Diversity Mark. Huge congratulations to all the team for their innovative and progressive approach. We look forward to working with them on their Diversity journey over the next number of years.”

To maintain the Silver Diversity Mark, ALG will now commit to reporting annually on the initiatives it is delivering to progress against these internal targets and to support the transparency and accountability needed to drive change.

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