Mewburn Ellis LLP

Mewburn Ellis is leading the way, embracing change and growth, doing it well and with a focus on high quality. We have applied these same principles to inclusion and diversity (I&D). We are in a new and exciting era. We’re committed to not only evolving our own firm but helping to transform the IP industry as a whole.

We began our journey in 2020, adding I&D to our strategic priorities and business plan. Working with I&D specialists Brook Graham we conducted a firmwide survey to help us understand the experiences, views, and ideas of our people. This was followed by a series of focus groups, which looked in more detail at key themes. From this we developed a strategic framework to help our thinking.

Our survey highlighted how challenging a topic I&D is. It means different things to different people. There were common themes, but also significant differences. Agreeing priorities was challenging as we didn’t want these to be imposed by the leadership team, but shaped by all our people.

Following this we decided to focus our energies on engagement, learning and personal development, recruitment, leadership and inclusive leadership training, and governance. We have a Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer, Robert Andrews, and have an established I&D Collaboration Group (CG) drawn from all parts of the firm. Our various communities continue to grow and develop, with our Women's network remaining our largest and most active community, now with nearly 120 members.

All our leaders are trained on I&D. All members of our Management Board have personally signed up to the IP Inclusive Senior Leader's Pledge and we now have a detailed I&D strategy for the firm. We actively support charities in line with our I&D and sustainability priorities and have donated over £1,000,000  to these causes.

We are receiving recognition for our work too and many of our attorneys are involved with other organisations from an I&D perspective. For the past two years running we have been awarded a Silver medal by EcoVadis, the sustainability ratings agency - which also assesses diversity initiatives and commitments. We are proud to say that this puts us in the top 25% of the 90,000 companies worldwide that have achieved the rating and the top 19% in the legal and accounting industry. We are the only IP firm in the UK to have achieved a Silver medal.

This year we have officially been recognised as a 'Great Place to Work' , the first European IP firm to achieve this certification. Their survey based assessment of how our people experience our business and culture, has provided us with insights and ideas about how we can become an even better place to work.

Over the past four years we have made great progress and are proud of this. The firm is already a better place for our people and conversations and activities are being undertaken that would never have happened before we started this journey. We continue to do more, and have the tools and appetite to build a truly inclusive culture. This is the right thing for our people and our business.