Beverley Sorsby, HR director at Ropes & Gray, shares insights into the firm’s commitment to diversity, its distinctive culture, and the qualities it seeks in prospective trainees
US law firm Ropes & Gray are passionate about diversity and inclusion, supporting their employees as well as getting involved with charitable initiatives which uplift diverse groups. Ahead of their student event, LGBTQ+ lawyers share their stories — with Ropes & Gray, we sat down with Ropes’ HR director to find out more about how the firm supports their LGBTQI+ lawyers.
Legal Cheek Careers: How has Ropes & Gray created an open and inclusive culture for its LGBTQ+ employees?
Beverley Sorsby: Ropes & Gray places inclusivity at the heart of its culture. Part of this is ensuring strong affinity groups. Our global LGBTQI+ group is led by a partner who is also our General Counsel. Our Managing Partner is also a strong LGBTQI+ advocate. More broadly, our global Diversity Committee is chaired by partners and every office is represented by a partner on this committee. This kind of senior sponsorship and leadership is critical to ensuring that everybody at our firm not just feels comfortable being themselves, but also understands that diversity is valued as a key component of what makes our firm as strong and vibrant as it is.
As local culture is an important element of diversity, here in London we have senior-level partner and business support working closely with our London LGBTI affinity group. As we are a relatively small office, the affinity group has relatively few members, so we make sure the group has the support it needs, whether that’s discussions on strategy at the start of a year or a spare pair of hands at busy times, such as Pride.
LC Careers: What can you tell us about Ropes & Gray’s LGBTQ+ charity partnerships and pro-bono work?
Beverley: Ropes & Gray is probably best known in the LGBTQI+ world and well beyond for the 2015 Obergefell v Hodges judgment. This was a highly publicised landmark marriage equality case in which one of our fabulous lawyers Doug Hallward-Dreimeier successfully argued, on a pro bono basis, to the Supreme Court and which led to legalised same-sex marriage in the United States. We can’t overstate how proud we are, individually and collectively, of the firm’s commitment to this issue and the very real difference this has made across the U.S. and globally. This case demonstrates well the depths of the firm’s support for the LGBTI — and all other diverse — communities.
We also work with various charities and businesses as you would expect for a firm of our size. Our global partnership with Certified B Corp LGBTI OutLeadership is a good example of this. We have been for several years the only law firm which sponsors OutLeadership at the very highest level and this has seen us attend and contribute to multiple events across the US and the UK.
LC Careers: What does the firm’s broader Diversity, Equity & Inclusion strategy look like?
Beverley: Our global DE&I strategy is more than a passive document, instead it is the platform for a series of live conversations that the Global Diversity Committee run across the year with all the firm’s leadership – practice groups and business support alike. The strategy aims to inspire and guide network-wide activities, according to a common set of values that we call our four DE&I foundational pillars. The philosophy underpinning this approach is that achieving greater diversity is best achieved with a local lens. One’s environment — whether office, country, or practice group, for example, unquestionably determines one’s experiences. These regular meetings keep diversity a ‘top of mind’ conversation and focus, resulting in myriad programmes and ideas each year!
LC Careers: Why is culture important to a business, particularly a law firm?
Beverley: Law firms’ primary assets are its people. The excellent service that we put such a premium on providing to our clients, consistently and across all our jurisdictions, is best delivered with a strong value set that guides a great culture. We are consistently told by hires of all levels and roles who have worked in other law firms that Ropes & Gray has a special culture. Our Chair Julie Jones talks about this often both internally and externally. For us, our culture is an active conversation and not a document sat in a drawer. I think it’s this energy that means that in London we have always attracted such a diverse group of high performers and helps explain why we are frequently recognised as such a diverse office — for example, Law.com’s 2024 UK gender diversity survey found that Ropes & Gray has the most gender diverse equity partnership in the UK, for the second year in a row.
LC Careers: How is the firm’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity reflected in its graduate recruitment process?
Beverley: We have made several interventions to our trainee recruitment processes to ensure we are attracting diverse talent. We run targeted events for female students, LGBTQ+ students and Black students. We operate a blind assessment process to reduce bias that might creep into the selection process. This includes redacting names and universities from the application form and not providing any information to assessors or interviewers on the candidates’ background. We use a contextual recruitment tool as part of the application process to further understand the context in which applicants’ experiences have been gained, and to identify outperformers that others may miss. We also run a social mobility programme, Bridge to the City, which supports talent from low socioeconomic backgrounds and provides a small role in helping the students upskill so they can apply for graduate jobs in the city. We have had two out of four scholars who have ultimately been offered a TC with the firm.
LC Careers: What attributes are you looking for in students who apply to Ropes & Gray?
Beverley: We look for talented and diverse students from all backgrounds who are interested in pursuing a career in commercial law. Candidates must be collaborative and enjoy working as part of a team, as well as entrepreneurial. We want people who are intellectual, curious and detail orientated.
LC Careers: How does Ropes & Gray stand out from other law firms in the industry?
Beverley: Ropes & Gray stands out as one of the market’s leading international firms for private capital clients. In London, the firm acts for sophisticated private capital investor and provider clients, particularly in the life sciences and healthcare, technology sectors, offering all the legal services they need: from fundraising to transactional deal-making and financing, and from antitrust to compliance, data protection, restructuring, real estate, financial regulation and tax. The firm also advises some of the world’s largest businesses on their most challenging issues. Aside from its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, Ropes & Gray also stands out for its strong commitment to pro bono work, contributing to the community and supporting important social causes.
Find out more about being LGBTQ+ at Ropes & Gray at the Legal Cheek event ‘LGBTQ+ lawyers share their stories — with Ropes & Gray’, Wednesday 6 November, 4pm to 6:30pm, at the firm’s City of London office. Apply now to attend.
About Legal Cheek Careers posts.
