Addleshaw Goddard’s D&I focus leads to place on next BT Group Legal Panel
BT Group is pleased to announce that Addleshaw Goddard has been awarded a place on its next legal panel, after being confirmed as the firm on its existing panel most effectively driving diversity and inclusion (D&I) across all areas of its organisation. Other firms that were highly commended as part of this review, and which have subsequently been named as D&I champions within BT Group’s existing legal panel, include BCLP, Osborne Clarke and CMS.
In 2020, BT Group committed to placing diversity and inclusion at the heart of the selection process for its next legal panel, which will be confirmed in 2024, by promising that the firm with the best results in these fields would see its place on the roster automatically renewed. Since then, BT Group has worked collaboratively with all of its panel firms to understand not only how they’re increasing diversity in their workforce, but also the steps they’re taking to foster inclusivity in their working environments.
While many firms were identified as making excellent progress in these areas, Addleshaw Goddard, BCLP, Osborne Clarke and CMS were distinguished by their ability to provide clear evidence of actions they’ve taken across various levels of seniority and geographic regions. BT Group also concluded that Addleshaw Goddard’s range of ideas, innovations, attention to detail and overall enthusiasm helped them to beat other strong contenders to the top position.
Sabine Chalmers, General Counsel, Director of Regulatory Affairs and Company Secretary for BT Group, said: “When we began looking at our next legal panel, we wanted to ensure that all the firms involved are playing an active role in building a more diverse and inclusive legal industry. Throughout the assessment process, we were delighted to see that this is an issue that many firms are already taking seriously. We’re delighted to be able to confirm that against very strong competition Addleshaw Goddard were selected as the leading firm in driving D&I, and we look forward to working with them as a part of our next legal panel.”
BT Group continues to take a variety of measures to drive D&I across the company. Having committed to championing inclusion in its Manifesto, in July BT Group appointed Fiona Vines as its new Chief Inclusion, Equity & Diversity Officer to further drive initiatives in these areas. All its senior managers’ compensation now includes a D&I metric, and the company provides updates on its D&I performance in all of its major reports to the external market.
BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. We also provide managed telecommunications, security and network and IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.
BT Group consists of three customer-facing units: Business covers companies and public services in the UK and internationally; Consumer serves individuals and families in the UK; Openreach is an independently governed, wholly owned subsidiary wholesaling fixed access infrastructure services to its customers - over 650 communications providers across the UK.
British Telecommunications plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
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About Addleshaw Goddard
Addleshaw Goddard is a leading international law firm which each year represents over 3,000 businesses, including 48 FTSE 100 companies, across 90+ countries. The firm's 1,600+ lawyers operate across a global network of 17 offices.
