Diversity and inclusion highlights Chambers ALSP 2021

The 2021 edition of the Chambers Alternative Legal Service Providers Guide is our most comprehensive yet. As our research process continuously evolves with the latest technology, sector developments and client needs, we are delighted to now include more in-depth coverage than ever before.

An essential component of sector developments over the last few years - which has only grown more significant during the Covid-19 pandemic - is diversity and inclusion. While firms have been escalating their D&I efforts for years, increasingly clients are driving change in a variety of ways, the most formidable of which stipulate reduced compensation for the firms that don't meet targets. 

Our Chambers Diversity and Inclusion team was initially launched as Chambers Women in Law in 2012. Since then, we have held diversity and inclusion conferences and awards ceremonies in the USA, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Further, our dedicated diversity website regularly publishes content sharing best practice from both the private practice and in-house sectors.

Building on this success, in the last two years we have been integrating diversity and inclusion into our research process.  These changes to our research have included all research teams receiving D&I training and with our editorial staff addressing the impact of gendered language in editorial. This is part of an ongoing initiative to enhance our research processes and to ensure our ranking process is  free from unconscious bias.

While we do not rank individuals in the Alternative Legal Service Providers Guide and, therefore, can't accurately depict the diversity of the sector, the fluid structure of this model lends itself well to flexible and agile ways of working that allow for greater inclusion. As this continues to be a focus for Chambers, we encourage providers to collaborate with us on this topic.