Bristol-headquartered national law firm TLT has achieved 33% female partner representation two years ahead of its 2025 target – confirming its position as a leader for women’s representation in senior positions.
The firm, which employs around 1,400 people – 70% of them women – said a third of its 160 partner roles have been held by women since the start of the financial year – a figure which it claims demonstrates its steady progress in getting women leaders to the top of the profession. 
Since implementing its gender equality strategy four years ago in collaboration with its Women’s Equality Network, TLT said it had significantly improved gender balance in its partner hiring and promotions.
Women have accounted for just over half of all partner promotions and hires over the past three years – double what it was in 2020.
Growth in this area had been achieved thanks to its efforts and determination to improve diversity across all levels of the business, the firm said, along with the feedback and guidance from its Women Equality Network.
Gender equality in senior positions has been a key policy area for major law firms for the past decade. While latest figures show women make up 52% of lawyers in law firms, up from 51% on the previous year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) described the seniority gap between female partners and solicitors as remaining “significant”, despite narrowing slightly.
The figures show women remain underrepresented at partner level (at 35%) in firms of all sizes, but to a greater extent in the largest outfits.
TLT, which also has offices in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, said its progress had, in part, been achieved as a result of its robust governance, including setting up an internal taskforce to monitor progress in diversity.
This taskforce is made up of head of real estate and future energy Maria Connolly, chief people officer Helen Hodgkinson and managing partner John Wood – all members of the executive board – senior partner Sasha Butterworth, partner and equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) champion Esther Smith and senior ED&I manager Lucy Norman-Wells. 
The taskforce reviews critical datasets relating to diversity and is responsible for implementing key decisions such as gender balanced shortlists and hiring panels while complementing the steps the firm has taken elsewhere, including introducing several market-leading initiatives that offer support for critical life stages which have been instrumental in helping drive improvements.
These include:
- A new enhanced menopause provision for employees
- A dedicated pregnancy loss policy, which sets out new paid absence provisions specifically for early-stage pregnancy loss
- A boost to the firm’s maternity and shared parental leave policy to offer enhanced pay as a day one provision and increasing the duration of both full and half pay
- A ‘ramp up, ramp down’ programme for expectant and returning parents to support them during a critical transition period
- A market-leading paternity and non-birthing parent leave provision consisting of four weeks full pay to empower partners to be active caregivers through greater flexibility
- A flexible working policy allowing colleagues to choose when and where to work.
Helen Hodgkinson, pictured above, said: “Gender equality is a given for our firm; fixing the system and not our women has been a fundamental part of our success.
“Whilst our current position is promising and things are improving, we still have a way to go. We know it is still mostly women who take the predominant amount of caring responsibilities and, with women representing 70% of our business, this is a significant barrier to improving gender diversity in our top roles.
“We are tackling this head-on by introducing measures centred on parents and carers, alongside our ground- breaking approach to new ways of working – all of which are already starting to show results.
“To date, 80% of paternity leavers have taken the full four weeks of leave. We’re proud to have achieved this milestone target ahead of schedule and will continue to look at ways to drive sustainable change in every part of our operations, including with our own people by making sure our senior positions are truly diverse and inclusive.”
TLT inclusion champion and employment partner Esther Smith, pictured above, added: “Gender equality is one of my top priorities as the ED&I champion at TLT and I’m exceptionally proud that we have reached this milestone target in 2023.
“But the work doesn’t stop here. It’s imperative we keep the momentum going on ED&I and continue to diversify further to support both women and working parents, irrespective of gender.
“I look forward to continuing this important work at TLT, working closely with the Women’s Equality Network to support and empower our women to reach for the top.”
