William Fry LLP

Diversity at William Fry

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) forms a key part of our business strategy. Fostering a diverse workforce enables us to attract and retain the best, brightest and broadest range of talent. Creating an inclusive environment where people are encouraged to reach their full potential enables us to harness the unique perspectives and experiences of our staff to provide innovative solutions to our clients.

Our goal is to ensure that everyone has a voice and to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of our people, our clients and our community. Our DE&I work will continue to be a priority focus area until our Firm, at all levels and in all roles, reflects the diversity of our community and of Ireland.

Our DE&I Team

 We believe diversity equity and inclusion is everyone's responsibility and that accountability for DE&I must be at a senior level to reflect its importance to our business and to ensure that it is considered in all discussions on business strategy. Our Sustainable Business Lead and our DE&I committee, a representative group of 60 volunteers from across the Firm. The primary purpose of the DE&I committee is to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, enhance the employee experience and contribute to the Firms sustainability strategy. By bringing together individuals who share common interests, experiences, or backgrounds, the subcommittees aim to build a sense of belonging and camaraderie among our diverse workforce. This collaborative effort contributes to a more inclusive and innovative workplace, where every employee feels valued, heard, and empowered to reach their full potential.

There are five focus areas in the DEI Committee;

• Culture
• Enable
• Gender
• LGBTQ+
• Social Mobility

DE&I Training

 We deliver a range of training for our employees over the years, topics include unconscious bias; how to create inclusive teams; communicating across cultures; pride at work and disability awareness training. Please see more recent training below;

• In 2023 and 2024, we held Disability Inclusion Training, to provide a deeper understanding of disability, barriers in the workplace, reasonable accommodations and how to support employees and job applicants with disabilities.
• In 2024 The Open Doors Initiative delivered Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity Training for colleagues
• In January 2025, we delivered Equality, diversity and inclusion training with DCM Learning. This session explored key concepts related to diversity, unconscious bias, and inclusion in the workplace to raise awareness and encourage reflection on how we can create a more inclusive environment where everyone feels respected and valued.
• This year to celebrate disability pride month, our Enable Committee ran an inspiring session on neuro-inclusion led by Mark Scully, founder of Braver Coaching & Consulting. Mark shared his personal journey and deep insights into how organisations can better support neurodivergent individuals.
• Creating a psychologically safe workplace is central to our DE&I strategy. Our Bystander Intervention training programme, ‘Speak-Up’, is designed to educate, inform, and empower colleagues to act as upstanders and foster a genuinely inclusive environment. We have appointed 13 Speak-Up Advocates from across all areas of the Firm. These individuals have received specialised training in active listening and pathways to speaking up, and serve as accessible points of contact for colleagues seeking support or guidance. Their contact details are available on our intranet, alongside an online training module that all employees are encouraged to complete.

Recruiting Diversity

We believe that recruitment is a key area where we can proactively increase the diversity of our organization. To that end we:

• Provide Unconscious Bias training for all staff
• Use DE&I language in our job specs (studies have shown that doing so can increase the likelihood that diverse candidates will apply for a job)
• Report on quarterly job exits to the executive committee to commit to action against potential bias.
• Use gender decoders in our job advertisements and mandatory manager training to eradicate unconscious bias in interviewing processes.
• Ensure gender balanced interviews and a minimum of 2 females shortlisted for all senior leadership roles.

At William Fry, we believe that talent and potential should never be limited by background. Our social mobility initiatives aim to remove barriers to education, employment, and career progression, particularly for individuals from disadvantaged or marginalised communities. We are proud to support a range of programmes and partnerships that promote equity and inclusion across society.