Editors' Blog

Glad to be PWMBMWCPPIG?

Posted 20/03/2008 by Alex Novarese

Perhaps this is hopeless naivety but I’d always assumed the legal profession was very gay-friendly. Having a little more flair and glamour than accountancy and a lot less machismo than banking, law always seemed a fairly hospitable place for the lesbian and gay community (though I’m not sure about the transsexuals that overly-literal law firms insist on putting in their LGBT groups).

And that’s just the solicitors - considering the attire advocates have to wear in court, a laid-back attitude to your sexual orientation has to be a plus for the Bar.

So it’s surprising that the profession has so enthusiastically embraced gay networking groups, as can be seen from the launch of the new InterLaw Forum for lawyers, which kicks off with a gala event on 17 April at the National Gallery.

Already, you can sense the competitive, herd-like mentality that the legal profession specialises in baahing into life. Soon the war to be the gayest law firm in London will be in full swing (though I find it hard to believe, as I was recently informed, that the current front-runner is Pinsents). Expect increasingly impressive initiatives, with Herbert Smith securing an early lead after booking Sir Ian McKellen to help launch its LGBT network next week.

Obviously all this is a good thing but it’s getting hard to keep up with the fast-changing morality of once-ruthless law firms in a world in which Freshfields - having just launched a ‘Carbon Commitment Index’ - is apparently about to start to policing the environmental credentials of companies worldwide.

Still, I can’t help wondering if law firms might want to devote a bit more time to certain other groups that arguably get a rawer deal climbing the legal career ladder. How long until firms launch their Pregnant Women, Mothers, Black Men, Working Class and Poor People In General (PWMBMWCPPIG) groups?

alex.novarese@legalweek.com