Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

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Gender Pay Gap

Marks & Clerk is committed to attracting, retaining and developing the most talented people as employees and partners.

In doing so, we are also committed to strive for that workforce to be diverse, inclusive and composed of people who feel at ease to be themselves at work.

We believe that people with different characteristics, experiences, upbringing and perspectives should all be treated with equal respect. Where they have the merit and aptitude in their chosen career, their progression and ability to thrive should be free of obstacles.

While equality, diversity and inclusion at work are valuable ends in themselves, they also bring to bear a wider range of experiences and perspectives resulting in increased innovation and creativity. In a business like ours we want to harness that innovative and creative thinking so that it can flow through to our approach to meeting client needs and improving outcomes for our workforce.

Equality, diversity and inclusion in our firm are unfinished business and we know we have much work to do. We are fully committed to do that work and, reinforced by our values, we will strive for a firm where equality, diversity and inclusion are embedded within our daily working practices and our longer-term strategies.

Our guiding principles

Marks & Clerk is a member of IP inclusive. IP Inclusive aims to promote and improve equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing throughout the UK intellectual property (IP) profession. We were one of the first signatories of IP Inclusive when it was formed and continue to sponsor the initiative each year.

We are regular contributors to IP inclusive activities and have hosted events in our offices and contributed to talks on subjects such as the menopause, religion, resilient thinking, and applying to the industry.

Our senior leaders are committed to supporting the aims of IP Inclusive and have signed up to the IP Inclusive Senior Leadership Pledge.

Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Pledge

We, as leadership representatives of Marks & Clerk LLP, commit to the following:

Providing visible and proactive leadership to improve D&I in our organisation by:

Taking an active interest in D&I matters and being allies to colleagues from under-represented groups
Putting our names to this public statement of Marks & Clerk’s commitment to D&I

Taking D&I seriously at the highest level by:

Giving regular consideration to D&I in all key decision making, policies and practices
Encouraging visible and proactive leadership on D&I matters

Embedding and valuing D&I throughout our organisational culture by:

Continuing to work together to build a culture that supports D&I throughout our entire organisation
Encouraging our people to celebrate difference and make an active contribution to D&I matters inside and outside our firm

Building trust and safe spaces throughout our organisation by:

Encouraging all our people, at all levels, to bring their whole selves to work and speak openly about their identities, values and experiences
Leading by example in sharing our own identities, values and experiences

Educating ourselves and our colleagues about D&I issues by:

Taking an active interest in D&I matters as they arise, and getting involved where we have something to add
Providing support and awareness training for our people at all levels in relation to D&I

Sharing our privileges by:

Ensuring that opportunities to join our organisation are communicated and open to people of all backgrounds
Searching for opportunities to become involved with D&I activity, and encouraging others to do the same

Insisting on equity by:

Ensuring that development and progression opportunities within our firm are always fair, objective and accessible to people of all backgrounds
Regularly reviewing and, where necessary, improving our processes and practices to evaluate their impact on D&I within our firm

Working closely with HR and management colleagues to achieve this by:

Considering and actively promoting D&I in all our people policies and practices
Involving our HR experts in decision-making at every level where D&I could be impacted

Simon Mounteney
Managing Partner, Europe

Lara Sibley
EDI Oversight Partner

Darren Mossemenear
HR Director

WISE is an organisation that promotes STEM opportunities to women and girls, from school age, through to industry. Membership with WISE gives us access to webinars, research and statistics and provide a wealth of knowledge and resources ensuring we are always up-to-date and doing what we can to offer a diverse and inclusive place to work. We also advertise our graduate roles on their job boards.

enei is the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion and is a UK based employer network covering all aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Through our membership, everyone who works at Marks & Clerk is able to access webinars, guides and resources across a wide range of EDI subjects. We also work with them to provide internal talks and training to our colleagues and provide consultative advice to develop our strategic approach to EDI.

Bright Network is a careers platform that provides career support and guidance to students and works with businesses, providing access to over one million members. Our partnership with Bright Network gives us the opportunity to promote our graduate roles, internships and insight events to a diverse range of students who come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, a broad range of ethnic diversities, and Russell Group and Non-Russell Group universities.

The Black Talent & Leadership programme is a cross-industry initiative lead by Cambridge Wireless, Homerton Changemakers, University of Cambridge, 10000 Interns and Synergy Solutions. The initiative aims to empower and grow Black talent in STEM and create a community of technology companies who are committed to providing equity of opportunity. As a consortium member we are able to work with other STEM organisations to share ideas, knowledge and best practice. We also work with the initiative to recruit for our annual internship programme which is focused on growing Black talent in the intellectual property sector.