Strelia

Strelia recognises and values the importance of being different. We believe that each individual’s unique set of talents, skills, social backgrounds, culture, personal characteristics, and their differences in gender, beliefs, sexual orientation, and nationalities contribute to creating a stronger workforce and a better law firm. We therefore take diversity very seriously and persist in continuing our pursuit of becoming a diverse and inclusive firm.

Since our inception in 2013, we have progressed significantly in terms of gender diversity. At Strelia, women account for 10% of all partners and 50% of all counsel and associates. We constantly take steps to steer our discussions and actions towards promoting our culture of diversity, inclusion, and work-life balance, which are some of the main pillars of our hiring and retention programs. Strelia is also one of the key members in promoting gender diversity by organizing the Women in Law and Leadership program every year, inspiring female associates of Belgian law firms to take on leadership roles and coaching them on how to advance in their careers. Our lawyers and staff have various ethnic backgrounds, and we stand by this commitment of inclusion. Moreover, Strelia is aware of some clients’ demand for diverse lawyers to assist them and handle their matters, and we take this preference to heart. We are sensitive to their requests and do our best to form a team that can meet their criteria.

In early 2019, Strelia joined the Belgium-based Legal Diversity & Inclusion Alliance (LDIA). Our membership demonstrates our commitment to not only promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal industry but also making collective efforts with several law firms in Belgium to champion this. LDIA member firms affirm their commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment, exchanging good practices on diversity and inclusion, and raising awareness of non-discrimination and diversity issues by combining efforts in organising events, workshops and training.

Strelia is also a proud sponsor of DIApositief, which stands for “diverse and inclusive law profession” (in English). DIApositief is an initiative of the Dutch-speaking Brussels Bar whose mission is to raise awareness about the legal profession among young migrants and to aspire them to pursue their studies and career in law. What drives our sponsorship in this initiative is the fact that we acknowledge Brussels’s diversity (it is the second most diverse city in the world, after Dubai), and we want to do as much as we can to play an active role in supporting the next generation of lawyers, who are migrants or come from migrant families.

We clearly see the legal industry in Belgium jump on the “Workplace Diversity and Inclusion” bandwagon, and Strelia is pleased to be among the firms leading this.