Kingsley Napley is committed to bringing colleagues together with the shared aim of creating an LGBTQ+ inclusive workplace and community, where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work.
Our LGBTQ+ & Allies Network was established in 2015 and remains an active and vibrant sub-group of Kingsley Napley’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Group. We have a long history of supporting and empowering our LGBTQ+ staff members, while also engaging and educating our allies.
In terms of our aims, we raise awareness and the profile of LGBTQ+ issues, not just at Kingsley Napley but also in the wider community. We prioritise maintaining a safe environment, with visible role models at different levels of the firm, to ensure everyone has support and is able to raise any issues or concerns openly and honestly. We also work with key decision makers to ensure we are formulating and reviewing policies and procedures to make our firm as inclusive as possible.
As a Network, we meet on a regular basis to discuss and plan how we will highlight days of specific LGBTQ+ importance throughout the year.
Here’s just some of what we have done recently:
- We held a “Routes to Parenthood” seminar together with our KN Families Network in which our experts discussed the range of options available for LGBTQ+ prospective parents
- We invited all staff members to wear rainbow lanyards and include their pronoun/s on their website profiles and email signatures
- We threw a Pride party, inviting peers, contacts and friends to enjoy an evening of dancing with DJing from our Network members
- We hosted a breakfast in our café, Lennie’s to celebrate Bisexual Awareness Week and discuss important issues such as erasure which affect the bisexual community
- We celebrated World Book Day by inviting The Common Press, a local queer and intersectional bookshop, to run a bookstall in our offices
- For International Non-Binary Day, we held a talk by Oscar Davies, the first out non-binary barrister, discussing how the current state of the law is affecting non-binary people
- We worked with Stonewall to review and update our Gender Identity Policy and training for managers on how to support our trans colleagues
- For LGBT+ History Month, we held a lecture by leading queer historian Noreena Shopland and arranged a trip to the Queer Britain Museum
- We wore rainbow laces in support of Stonewall’s campaign to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport
- We have published blogs, written articles, featured in interviews, and spoken about LGBTQ+ issues, including IVF inequality, conversion therapy and being out at work
- We have hosted movie evenings in our café, Lennie’s, to celebrate and mark days of specific importance, such as Trans Day of Visibility
We are proud to be Stonewall Diversity Champions and members of the Law Society Diversity and Inclusion Charter.