Gatehouse Chambers

Gatehouse Chambers’ members and staff are committed to equal opportunities at work and at the Bar. This commitment manifests itself in our policies and procedures, in our strategic objectives, and in our recruitment processes. Chambers has an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee to promote our policies and objectives and help improve and monitor our compliance.

Chambers supports a number of initiatives aimed at encouraging and supporting greater diversity:

Gender

• Our people belong to numerous gender equality groups and industry organisations promoting gender equality.
• Our Parental Leave Policy makes it as easy, transparent and financially beneficial for both parents to take leave as it would be for one parent to do so.
• We have a Transgender Policy which has involved both a review of all policies and our constitution to ensure they are gender neutral and a review of signage throughout chambers.
• Chambers is also committed to ensuring diversity and equality on the chambers management committee.
• We aim to include a woman wherever possible in our speaking and business development activities. · We are signatories to the ERA Pledge: http://www.arbitrationpledge.com/

LGBT+

• Gatehouse collaborated with other chambers to create FreeBar, a network for everyone at the Bar who believes in equality for LGBT+ individuals and their allies.
• Chambers is working with other colleagues at FreeBar to set up the FreeBar Charter: best practice in barristers’ chambers (due to be launched in 2020).
• We are also members of Free Hold which is a LGBT organisation aimed at professionals working in the property sector.
• Chambers is a Stonewall Diversity champion and has been for many years.

Social diversity and mobility

• We have for the last 8 years run a university placement scheme aimed at non-Russell Group universities to give an undergraduate the opportunity to work as a full-time employee of chambers in the marketing and IT support teams in their industry year.
• We have also run a massively over-subscribed work experience programme for over 10 years aimed at those from backgrounds that are under-represented at the Bar and those who work in chambers.

Racial diversity

• Gatehouse’s members and staff have worked with Herbert Smith Freehills on their RBS First Step programme insight day. RBS Legal First Step is an intensive one week programme developed to give A Level students that are people of colour and/or from socially disadvantaged backgrounds greater opportunities, experience and contacts to help them consider and pursue a career in law or business.
• One of our senior barristers is a Founding member of the Women’s Network of the British Nigeria Law Forum.
• Members and staff mentor black students and people of colour informally and through their own networks and speak at state schools and mosques.

We are the only chambers to allocate a specific part of member and staff profiles on our website to describing, celebrating and promoting CSR.