Slaughter and May has appointed its first director of responsible business in a move the magic circle firm said ‘recognises the importance of the responsible business agenda both in terms of the actions the firm takes and the work it does for its clients’.

Uzma Hamid-Dizier, formerly head of responsible business, has been promoted to the new role from this week. Her role includes implementing a strategy steered by a  responsible business committee, Slaughter and May said. 

A spokesperson for the firm said the strategy ‘focuses on integrating responsible business and sustainability into the services it provides to clients, its operations, its supply chain, and its role as an employer’. By doing so the firm believes that it will 'enhance its business performance, add greater value to its clients, and attract and retain the best people to deliver a top-quality service,' the spokesperson said.

The announcement follows that of international firm Hogan Lovells, which last week appointed Paul Akehurst as head of sustainability. Susan Bright, global managing partner for diversity and inclusion and responsible business, said Akehurst will ‘help us on our journey to support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to help both people and planet prosper’.

Elsewhere, international firm Squire Patton Boggs yesterday said it has appointed its first global director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) Kathy Bowman-Williams, who was previously head of diversity at US-based firm Baker Botts.

Squire Patton Boggs launched an ‘Office of DEI’ last September, which the firm said was intended to ‘take our established diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to new heights by putting them front and center in our senior leadership discussions’.

The firm added in a statement that Bowman-Williams would assist its ‘development, implementation and monitoring of effective strategies that support the retention and advancement of underrepresented groups throughout the firm globally’.

 

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