Positive strides: WIPR's diversity and inclusion survey

WIPR’s latest survey on diversity and inclusion provides another sombre snapshot of an industry that’s behind the times but trying hard to catch up through a variety of initiatives. Sarah Morgan reports.

Earlier this year, WIPR undertook a global survey to learn more about your thoughts and experiences of diversity in the legal profession. While our inaugural survey in 2019 mainly focused on gender diversity, this year we broadened the focus to include all kinds of diversity and inclusion (D&I) issues for a fuller picture. The results were, once again, sobering. 

As in our first survey, the majority of our respondents were women, with men and ‘other’ making up 20% and 5%, respectively. The majority (70%) of respondents came from private practice, while in-house, service providers, IP offices and others made up the rest of the cohort, and a third of respondents consider themselves to be part of a minority.