Burness Paull recognised as top employer

Burness Paull has been named Best Early Careers Employer and commended for Best Diversity & Inclusive Initiative at the s1 Jobs Recruitment Awards 2022.

Celebrating the best recruiters in Scotland from across all sectors, the expert judges’ decisions were announced at the Glasgow Doubletree by Hilton last night.

Burness Paull has long shown a commitment to diversity and inclusion, becoming the first legal firm to appoint a dedicated Wellbeing & Inclusion Manager in Emma Smith. It is also the only independently accredited ‘Menopause Friendly’ employer in Scotland - as well as the first law firm in the UK to achieve the status.

Peter Lawson, Chair at Burness Paull, said: “Respect and inclusion is at the heart of who we are as a law firm and as an employer. We’re committed to being a business that recognises individuality, creating a culture where all our people can succeed.

“To us, this is a core part of being a responsible employer and sits in tandem with our wider Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance commitments.

“These awards recognise the fantastic work being done by colleagues across the firm, and it’s a great achievement for the legal sector to be represented in an event like this.”

Burness Paull has a number of employee-led networks across the firm which feed in to a focused approach to diversity, inclusion and wellbeing initiatives.

The firm also works with external partners like SEMLA (Scottish Ethnic Minority Lawyers Association), Stonewall, ENABLE, ENEI, Rare Recruitment and the Social Mobility Index, to ensure policies and processes are as transparent and inclusive as possible.

For new joiners, Burness Paull has taken an innovative approach to the recruitment process, making it as accessible as possible to candidates from a wide range of backgrounds. This has been achieved through investing in technology such as RARE, a contextualised recruitment system, the introduction of blind interviews, and mandatory unconscious bias training for hiring managers.

The firm partnered with the Robertson Trust to become the first law firm to offer a legal “Career Pathway”, is a member of the PRIME work experience programme for school-age students, and is a Gold Sponsor of the Lawscot Foundation, helping financially disadvantaged young people embark on a legal career.

Peter Lawson added: “As a market leader in the legal field, we believe it’s our responsibility to help widen access to the legal profession, and are committed to taking this belief and championing a much wider talent pool across the sector.

“We believe this starts with attracting candidates at the beginning of their career, and then continuing to break down barriers as these individuals progress towards becoming the lawyers of tomorrow.”

These latest awards follow on from Burness Paull being named winners of The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion ‘Enhancing Wellbeing and Belonging at Work’ award 2021, UK Diversity Legal Awards ‘Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year’ and Legal Advisor of the Year at the 2021 Deals and Dealmakers Awards.