Our vision for the TTM Law Firm Diversity Index is to become an effective resource for client and law firm collaboration towards greater equality and inclusion in the profession.

We wish to play an active part in the changes to the industry we all know are required. We started our research at where we are today and how we may then measure any change.

The lack of transparency across the profession with the data we currently have is a strong starting point.

Tap the Market™is in the business of improving outcomes for clients and law firms through automated processes based on data.

We work with clients and law firms to ensure the best quality data is available to make informed decisions.

However, we found data availability was not consistent, and transparency was often low.

A common cited law firm source for female, BAME and LGBT data was an internal survey. The response rates to these surveys could be as low as 33% and never 100%.

How the data from those surveys was included on law firm websites (if at all) was inconsistent.

If actual figures are not stated, only survey results, how can there be a year on year, 5 yearly, 10 yearly review of progress on actuals?

There can’t.

We have applied an open and transparent methodology. A clear traffic light system sets out how transparent each law firm is with regards to diversity (together with hyperlinks to the relevant page for each law firm for speed and ease) and their current attainment - if possible..

We considered :

• Whether a firm indicated a clear commitment to D&I by stating as such on a dedicated page on their website.
• Whether a firm included any D&I data.
• Were there stated ACTUAL figures for female, BAME and LGBT partners that could be relied upon.
• Where mandatory, did the firm post a copy of their gender pay gap report.

Actual links to the law firm pages are included for review, together with an Awards/News link to enable further exploration of each firm.

The traffic light system is clearly set out in our Methodology.

We envision our methodology and index scope to evolve and mature over time.

The data has not always been easy to find and or then analyse. This is a transparent and collaborative process, and we invite each firm included to contact us with updated information and relevant links, to help us improve the index’s accuracy.

We're keen to point out that our index is not a name and shame exercise, in fact, far from it, as that cannot be conducive to engaged, committed change.

We suggest that we all just need to understand what each law firm and client is working towards and for us all to collaborate on ways to get there faster.

If we agree that D&I is an imperative for healthy, profitable companies (clients and law firms), then we should share what we know.

We actually remain hopeful that some of the red traffic lights are simply a lack of disclosure by firms – and that the overall picture may be better than we see here. Pushing for better, more reliable data is key to getting closer to capturing that picture.

Tap the Market™’s clients can integrate the TTM Law Firm Diversity Index into their law firm appointment criteria on our platform. This automates not only the instruction process and identification of true value and savings but also keeps an ongoing record of D&I progress through data collection.

With this transparency, clients and law firms can collaborate to focus on positive, important and necessary change in the industry.