Legal and Regulatory information

Our complaints policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our service to you.

How to make a complaint

If you have a complaint, you should initially raise any concerns with the person who has conduct of your matter. You can contact us in writing (by letter or email) or by telephone.

To help us to understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us:

• your full name and contact details;
• what you think we have got wrong;
• how you would like your complaint to be resolved; and
• your file reference number (if you have it).

If you require any help in making your complaint we will try to help you.

If the complaint cannot be resolved you should contact the Departmental Client Care Partner (details are provided in the retainer letter sent to you at the outset of the matter).

If you don’t know who to speak to or in the event that your concerns are still unresolved, then please set out your complaint in writing to our Head of Risk and Compliance, Anu Kapila, who has overall responsibility for complaints. Anu Kapila’s contact details are:

Anu Kapila, Russell-Cooke LLP, 2 Putney Hill, Putney, London SW15 6AB 

Email: [email protected]

How your complaint will be dealt with

1. We will acknowledge any written complaint within 2 working days of receipt. We may ask you to confirm or explain any details. Your complaint will then be investigated by Anu Kapila. You will not be charged for our time spent in investigating and responding to your complaint.
2. We usually aim to complete investigations within 21 days, but it may take longer, especially if files have been archived or are particularly complex. We will aim to conclude our investigation within 8 weeks of your complaint being made.
3. We hope that we can resolve your complaint and Anu Kapila will write fully to you setting out her views.

What happens if you do not agree with our conclusion about your complaint?

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies exist, which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We have, however, chosen not to adopt an ADR process.

If, therefore, you wish to complain further, you may be able to refer your complaint to the independent organisation, the Legal Ombudsman. You should do so as soon as possible and in any event within 6 months of our final communication to you about your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman generally expects consumers to exhaust the law firm’s complaints process before referring a complaint to it.

The Legal Ombudsman's website is www.legalombudsman.org.uk and contains useful information including the criteria for accepting a complaint (broadly, only from individuals and small businesses, charities and similar organisations) and time limits – the Legal Ombudsman will accept a complaint within 1 year from the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within 1 year from when you should have known about the complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman's contact details are:

PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Telephone number: 0300 555 0333
Email enquiries should be sent to: [email protected]

The Solicitors Regulation Authority

Information relating to reporting concerns about an individual or a firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is available on the SRA website. Please note that the SRA does not deal with complaints about poor service. Further information is available here, and they may be contacted at:

Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
Telephone number: 0370 606 2555

^{Procedure last reviewed and updated January 2024.}

Cookies information

Like many websites, Russell-Cooke's website uses cookies in order to provide you with a more personalised web service. A cookie is a text only string of information that we pass to your computer's hard disk through your web browser so that the website can remember who you are.

Cookies cannot be used by themselves to identify you. A cookie will typically contain the name of the domain from which the cookie has come, the 'lifetime' of the cookie, and a value, usually a randomly generated unique number. For more information about cookies, please see www.allaboutcookies.org.

We mainly use only one type of cookie on our website:

• Per session cookies, which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookies file of your browser until you leave the site.

More specifically we use the following cookies which carry out the functions described:

• __utma - This is a Google Analytics cookie and tracks the number of times you have visited the Russell-Cooke website.
• __utmb and __utmc - This is another Google Analytics cookie and acts to calculate how long you have spent on the website in each session.
• __utmz - This Google Analytics cookie tracks what search engine you have visited the site from and which search terms you used to find the website.

We use Hotjar for visitor analytics and feedback. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users experience (such as how much time is spent on which pages and which links are clicked) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behaviour and their devices (in particular device's IP address (captured and stored only in anonymised form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and preferred language used to display our website). Cookies that Hotjar stores on the visitor's browser expire automatically after 365 days. Hotjar stores this information in a pseudonymised user profile. Neither Hotjar nor we will ever use this information to identify individual users or to match it with further data on an individual user. For further details, please see Hotjar’s privacy policy.

Hotjar uses the following cookes:

• _hjClosedSurveyInvites - This cookie is set once a visitor interacts with a Survey invitation modal pop-up. It is used to ensure that the same invite does not re-appear if it has already been shown.
• _hjDonePolls -  This cookie is set once a visitor completes a Poll using the Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the same Poll does not re-appear if it has already been filled in.
• _hjMinimizedPolls - This cookie is set once a visitor minimizes a Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimized when the visitor navigates through your site.
• _hjDoneTestersWidgets - This cookie is set once a visitor submits their information in the Recruit User Testers widget. It is used to ensure that the same form does not re-appear if it has already been filled in.
• _hjMinimizedTestersWidgets - This cookie is set once a visitor minimizes a Recruit User Testers widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimized when the visitor navigates through your site.
• _hjDoneSurveys - This cookie is set once a visitor completes a survey. It is used to only load the survey content if the visitor hasn't completed the survey yet.
• _hjIncludedInSample - This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate Heatmaps, Funnels, Recordings, etc.
• _hjShownFeedbackMessage - This cookie is set when a visitor minimizes or completes Incoming Feedback. This is done so that the Incoming Feedback will load as minimized immediately if they navigate to another page where it is set to show.

Under new rules, we are required to obtain your consent to use cookies. As you will have seen, we have a clear cookies pop up notice which appears when a user first visits our website. If you continue to use the website having seen the notice then we assume you are happy for us to use the cookies described above.

The cookies we use are designed to help you get the most from our website but if you do not wish to receive cookies you can easily modify your web browser to refuse cookies, or to notify you when you receive a new cookie. To change your settings for your web browser you will need to go to your advanced preferences. However, you may not be able to use all the interactive features of our site if cookies are disabled, and so in order to enjoy the Russell-Cooke site to the full, we recommend that you leave them switched on. For further instructions on how to stop cookies being installed on your browser, please see: www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies.

Our firm

Russell-Cooke LLP is a limited liability partnership incorporated in England & Wales under registered number OC327450. Its registered office is at 8 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4BX.

The members of Russell-Cooke LLP (who we call partners) are solicitors qualified to practise in England and Wales. A list of partners' names can be viewed on this website, inspected at our registered office, or supplied on request.

The firm's VAT No. is GB 215 9878 27.

Our regulator (SRA)

Russell-Cooke LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) under authorisation number 465322.

All SRA regulated businesses are subject to the rules and principles of professional conduct which apply to all solicitors and this firm. The SRA handbook can be viewed on the website of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (www.sra.org.uk).

Website terms

These terms and conditions govern your use of this website ("this Site") and your relationship with Russell-Cooke LLP ("we" or "us"). Please read them carefully as they affect your rights and liabilities under the law. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, please do not use this Site.

1. Use of this Site

1.1 This Site is for personal and business use subject to these terms and conditions. By using this Site you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

1.2 These terms and conditions relate to use of the Site only and do not apply to the provision of legal services to you. If you have instructed Russell-Cooke LLP to provide legal services to you then please note that separate terms and conditions of business will apply. If we are providing legal services to you and you would like a duplicate copy of our terms and conditions for legal services or if you do not believe they have been sent to you then please contact the solicitor you are dealing with and they will send a copy to you.

2. About Russell-Cooke

2.1 Russell-Cooke LLP is a limited liability partnership providing legal and other professional services to individuals, businesses and organisations in the public and voluntary sectors, we are a firm of solicitors authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

3. Amendments

3.1 We may update these terms and conditions from time to time for legal or regulatory reasons or to allow the proper operation of this Site. Significant changes will be notified via a suitable announcement on this Site. If you continue to use this Site after the date on which the change comes into effect, your use of this Site indicates your agreement to be bound by the new Terms and Conditions.

4. Legal information and resources

4.1 The Site contains various legal materials, resources, information and content. This information is provided by us as general information only. This information may not be relevant or apply in your particular case or situation. Your use of the Site or any materials available on the Site is not a substitute for legal or professional advice and your use of our Site does not constitute the provision of legal services by us to you (even if you are an existing client of ours). If you have any queries or concerns relating to any legal matter you should speak to a solicitor or other legal or professional adviser as soon as possible.

5. Offers, billing and pricing information

5.1 The Site may contain information relating to our charges for providing legal services and may (in certain areas) include reference to offers such as free-of-charge initial telephone consultations or fixed fees. Please note that any charging information provided is indicative and that our charges may be varied from time to time. No information contained on the Site will form part of any agreement for the provision of legal services or constitutes a binding term of such a contract. Please ensure that you confirm any offer or promotion in writing prior to instructing us to provide legal services.

6. Intellectual property

6.1 The content of this Site is protected by copyright, trade marks, database right and other intellectual property rights. You may retrieve and display the content of this Site on a computer screen, store such content in electronic form on disk (but not any server or other storage device connected to a network) or print one copy of such content for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you keep intact all and any copyright and proprietary notices. You may not otherwise reproduce, modify, copy or distribute or use for commercial purposes any of the materials or content on this Site without our written permission.

7. Our liability

7.1 This Site may provide content from other Internet sites or resources and while we try to ensure that material included on this Site is true and accurate, we do not make any warranties or guarantees in relation to that content. If we are informed of any inaccuracies in the material on the Site we will attempt to correct the inaccuracies as soon as we reasonably can.

7.2 We will not be liable to you for any losses in the event that you seek to rely on or use any information or materials available on the Site.

8. Third party websites

8.1 As a convenience to customers, this Site includes links to other web sites or material which are beyond its control. We are not responsible for content on any site outside this Site.

9. Applicable law

9.1 These terms and conditions will be subject to the laws of England and Wales. We will try to solve any disagreements quickly and efficiently. If you are not happy with the way we deal with any disagreement and you want to take court proceedings, you must do so within the United Kingdom.

10. Miscellaneous

10.1 If you breach these terms and conditions and we choose to ignore this, we will still be entitled to use its rights and remedies at a later date or in any other situation where you breach the terms and conditions.

10.2 We shall not be responsible for any breach of these terms and conditions caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

10.3 This Site is owned and operated by Russell-Cooke LLP.

10.4 If you have any queries please contact us using the below form.

Privacy Policy GDPR

This policy is intended to inform you how and why Russell-Cooke uses personal information from clients and other members of the public. When we refer to “we” or “us” in this policy we are referring to Russell-Cooke LLP.

Information we collect and hold about you

Clients

We will collect personal information about you when you contact us about providing legal services to you (for example, your name, address, email contact details, telephone number). We may require further information before we provide legal advice to you (for example, your passport or other ID) in order to comply with our regulatory requirements. We may also collect personal data about you from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry for client due diligence providers.

During the course of providing legal advice services to you, we may collect information about you and/or any other individuals you tell us about. Depending on the nature of the work we carry out for you, we may collect and use special categories of personal data about you or a third party you tell us about (for example, information about health, ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, and/or trade union membership).

When you become a client of Russell-Cooke, or when you enter into discussions to become a client, we may add your personal data to our marketing database in order to send you information about our seminars and events, legal updates, and other similar services. We will always give you the opportunity to opt-out of this marketing.

Marketing

If you are not a client of Russell-Cooke and you are a consumer (i.e. you are not representing a business or organisation), we will only send you marketing communications by email or other electronic means with your consent. If you consent to receive email marketing from us, we will add your personal information (your name and email contact details) to our marketing database.

We use a third party email processor, dotmailer Limited to deliver our e-communications. This is a data processor for us and only processes personal information in line with our instructions in order to help us manage our email communications.

You can opt out of marketing communications by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any of our emails or you can contact us at [email protected] at any time to opt out, change your contact details or to update your communication preferences.

We may also send marketing information by post if we are satisfied that we have a legitimate interest to do so, for example, to send our Review for clients to interested parties every two years.

Visitors to our website

We will collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us if you fill in a form on our website or apply for a vacancy through the website. This information may include your contact details including name, address, email, telephone number and where you provide it, some categories of personal data for example, ethnic origin and religious beliefs.

We may also collect information about how you use our website and our Cookies Policy has information about how we use cookies on our website. 

We use a third party data processor, Moriyama Limited, to host our website and help maintain its security and performance. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses of visitors to the Russell-Cooke website.

People who contact us via social media

If you send us a private or direct message via social media, we may share this information with Russell-Cooke personnel (for example, in order to respond to a specific query or to pass on information). We will not share messages with any other organisations without your prior consent.

Queries and complaints

If you send a query or complaint to us, we will use the personal information you provide to us (for example, your name and the name(s) of any other individuals involved) in order to process your query or complaint and respond to you. Where we consider it necessary or appropriate, we will share this information with third parties such as the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority.

1. How we use your information

We only ever use your personal data if we are satisfied that it is lawful and fair to do so because:

• you have given your consent to us using your information for the specific purposes described in this privacy notice
• it is necessary to enter into, or perform, a contract with you
• in order to comply with a legal obligation
• for our own (or a third party’s) legitimate interests provided your rights don’t override these interests. For example, we may use your personal data to comply for fraud and crime protection and for our network and information security measures, for any purpose required by law or our regulatory authority, for identifying usage trends and for data analytics as this information will help us review and improve our products, services and offers and under reasonable expectation to provide you with information you would expect to receive or that would benefit and enhance our relationship.

We will only use special categories of personal data relating to you or to third parties you tell us about when we have your explicit consent and/or where it is necessary to use the information for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

We will never sell your personal data or share it with third parties who might use it for their own purposes.

2. Sharing your information

We will not disclose any information you provide to any third parties other than:

• where you have given us consent to share the information
• where we instruct professional advisors on your behalf e.g. barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisors or other experts
• other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions e.g. your mortgage provider or HM Land Registry in the case of a property transaction or Companies House
• where information such as email addresses is passed to our third party service providers, who provide operational and technical support in order to make the delivery of our services more efficient. A list of our third party service providers can be provided to you upon request. Operational and technical support is provided through information and technology systems such as case management, document management, time recording and email systems, typing services and the monitoring of our website and other technical systems
• if we are under a legal or regulatory duty to disclose or share your personal information (for example, if required to do so by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime or in relation to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies)
• in order to enforce any terms and conditions or agreements between us
• as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation (we will always notify you in advance and we will aim to ensure that your privacy rights will continue to be protected)
• to protect our rights, property and safety, or the rights, property and safety of others (this includes exchanging information with our insurers, other companies, organisations and regulators for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction) 

We may share results of research that we carry out into the use of our services with third parties but this information will always be anonymised and will not contain your personal information.

3. Data security

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

We hold data electronically in our secure document management system and on our on-site file servers. Network infrastructure is protected using firewalls and anti-malware software. We also have off-site back-up servers in secure locations. We encrypt data leaving the firm on removable media and email, using industry standard encryption method that encrypts the data in transit. We regularly back up and encrypt all of the data we hold.

We store papers in lockable cabinets in our offices when not being actively used and we have a secure off-site document storage facility for archived papers. Our offices are secure and only personnel holding appropriate security passes can access areas where personal data are stored.

When necessary, we dispose of or delete your data securely.

We ensure that our employees, agents and contractors are aware of their privacy and data security obligations and we take reasonable steps to ensure that employees of third parties working on our behalf are aware of their privacy and data security obligations.

We limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a need to know. Access to client data is restricted to the instructing team within the firm. The firm’s business support teams may also have access to personal data (for example, to provide IT and document management support).

We may give third parties access to the personal information we hold about you in order to comply with our regulatory obligations (for example, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, our auditors or our professional indemnity insurers).

The transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your electronic information transmitted to us and any transmission is at your own risk.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

4. Transferring your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

We do not transfer the information you give us to countries outside the EEA, except where the international transfer is necessary in connection with the legal services we are providing to you. 

If we transfer your information outside of the EEA in this way, and the country in question has not been deemed by the EU Commission to have adequate data protection laws, we will provide appropriate safeguards and we will be responsible for ensuring your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this notice. If you would like more information about the safeguards we put in place, please contact [email protected].

If you are outside the EEA, your information may be transferred outside the EEA in order to provide you with our services. By submitting your personal information to us in this way you agree to the transfer and processing of your information outside the EEA.

5. Data retention

We have a Retention and Archiving Policy which sets out our approach to the retention and deletion of the personal information we hold about you either in computer or manual files.

We will hold the information for as long as required by law or our regulatory obligations. Our default retention period for personal data is seven years from the conclusion of your instructions to us or in the event that you or we need to re-open your matter from the date on which the reopened matter came to an end, unless otherwise specified by law.

Please note that personal data held on our client files may be retained for longer periods as it may be necessary to retain this data in order to allow our clients or third parties to protect their legal rights and claims. After the initial seven year retention period we will securely store any personal data which exists in our client files for a further period of up to 21 years. This data will not be generally accessible by our staff unless it is necessary in the context of a legal claim or there is another overriding reason which justifies access to this data.

In relation to personal data that we receive through unsuccessful applications for job vacancies, our default retention period is for 12 months from the date of our last interaction with you. If your application is successful, the personal data that you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file.

These retention periods may be extended or reduced if we deem it necessary (for example, to defend legal proceedings or if there is an on-going investigation relating to the information).

We review the personal data (and the categories of personal data) we are holding on a regular basis to ensure the data we are holding is still relevant to our business and is accurate. If we discover that certain data we are holding is no longer necessary or accurate, we will take reasonable steps to correct or delete this data as may be required.

6. Your rights

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

• request access to your personal information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it
• ask us to correct any information that we hold about you which is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate
• ask us to erase your personal information from our files and systems where there is no good reason for us continuing to hold it
• object to us using your personal information to further our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) or where we are using your personal information for direct marketing purposes
• ask us to restrict or suspend the use of your personal information, for example, if you want us to establish its accuracy or our reasons for using it
• ask us to transfer your personal information to another person or organisation

If you have given your consent to us processing your personal information (for example, consent to receive information about our seminars and events), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact [email protected]. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your personal information and, subject to our retention policy, we will dispose of your data securely.

7. Queries and complaints

Our Head of Risk and Compliance, Anu Kapila, oversees compliance with this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact [email protected].

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.

Equality & diversity policy

Statement of commitment

General commitment: Russell-Cooke (the firm) is committed to promoting equality and diversity across the firm by providing training, raising awareness and creating an inclusive work environment that encourages everyone to succeed and enjoy rewarding working lives. Making the most of everyone’s talents enables us to provide the best client service, working environment and maximises our business results.

The firm’s key objective is to maintain a culture of mutual respect and consideration, ensuring that everyone is treated equally and with the same attention, courtesy and respect regardless of their disability, age, gender, marital status, race, racial group, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, religion or belief, age or sexual orientation.

The firm is committed to ensuring that no policy, rule, requirement or condition will be imposed, without justification, which could put individuals at a disadvantage because of their protected characteristic(s).

This commitment applies to the firm’s professional dealings with all staff and partners, clients, other solicitors, barristers and third parties.

The firm is a supporter of the Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme and a member of the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter.

Regulation and legislation

In managing and maintaining its commitment to its equality and diversity policy, the firm ensures compliance with the SRA Standards and Regulations, SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors RELs and RFLs and the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms and with all current and any future anti-discrimination legislation and associated codes of practice including, but not limited to the Equality Act 2010 and also the firm’s own policies, as set out in the Office Manual.

A separate policy covering harassment, bullying and victimisation can be found under in the firm’s Office Manual.

Diversity and inclusion

The firm does not tolerate discrimination on any grounds. The following are examples of discrimination:

• Direct discrimination, where a person is treated less favourably on the grounds of:
  • race or racial group (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins)
  • sex (including marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity and paternity)
  • sexual orientation
  • religion or belief.
  • age
  • disability (the “Protected Characteristics”)
• Indirect discrimination, where an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put a substantially higher proportion of the members of one sex, or persons having a racial or ethnic origin, or a particular religion or belief, or a particular disability or a particular sexual orientation, or age group at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons unless that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.
• Victimisation, where someone is treated less favourably than others because he or she has taken action against the firm under relevant legislation.
• Harassment, when unwanted conduct related to any of the protected characteristics referred to above takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Harassment may involve physical acts or verbal and non-verbal communications and gestures. This will include physical, verbal and non-verbal acts.
• Disability discrimination, where an individual is treated less favourably than others because they have a disability. If you have a disability, please make your Line Manager and Human Resources aware of this, along with any reasonable adjustments to your working conditions or the duties of your job which you consider to be necessary, or which would assist you in the performance of your duties. This will help the firm to support you as much as possible as it will consider all adjustments carefully and will try to accommodate your needs. If we consider that a particular adjustment would not be reasonable, we will explain our reasons and try to find an alternative solution where possible.

The firm will monitor the physical features of its premises to consider whether those with a physical disability at a substantial disadvantage. Where possible and proportionate, the firm will take steps to improve access for people with a physical disability.

Employment and training

The firm will treat all employees equally and create a working environment which promotes inclusion and respects the diverse backgrounds and beliefs of all its partners and employees and which is free from discrimination and harassment. This will include arrangements for recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment, access to training opportunities, access to promotion and transfers, grievance and disciplinary processes, demotions, selection for redundancies, dress code, references, bonus schemes, work allocation and any other employment related activities.

Terms and conditions of service will comply with all diversity and equality legislation. The provision of benefits such as working hours, maternity, paternity and other leave arrangements, performance appraisal systems, dress code, bonus schemes and any other conditions of employment will not discriminate against any employee on the grounds of any of the protected characteristics.

The firm actively endeavours to provide appropriate facilities and conditions of service which take into account the specific needs of employees which arise from their ethnic or cultural background; gender; responsibilities as carers; disability; religion or belief; age, or sexual orientation.

Promotion and Career development

Promotion within the firm (including promotion to partners) will be based solely on merit and made in accordance with the principles of equality and diversity.

The selection criteria and processes for recruitment and promotion will be kept under review to ensure that there is no discriminatory impact on any particular group.

Whilst positive action measures may be taken in accordance with the relevant equality and diversity legislation to encourage under-represented groups to apply for promotion opportunities, recruitment or promotion to all jobs will be based solely on merit.

All employees will have equal access to training and other career development opportunities appropriate to their experience and abilities. However the firm will take positive action measures where appropriate (as permitted by the equality and diversity legislation) to provide special training and support for groups which are under-represented in the workforce and encourage them to take up training and career development opportunities.

The firm encourages a life-work balance amongst its employees and offers the provision of flexible working options as set out in the Flexible Working Policy. Currently 25% of the firm’s employees work part-time/flexible hours.

Recruitment and selection

This firm recognises the benefits of having a diverse workforce and actively encourages a workplace where everyone is valued for their skills and contribution. The firm therefore takes steps to ensure that:

• it endeavours to recruit from the widest pool of qualified candidates;
• employment opportunities are open and accessible to all on the basis of their individual qualities and personal merit;
• where appropriate positive action measures are taken to attract applications from all sections of society and especially from those groups which are under represented in the workforce;
• selection criteria and processes do not discriminate unjustifiably on the grounds of the protected characteristics;
• wherever appropriate and necessary, lawful exemptions (genuine occupational requirements) will be used to recruit suitable staff to meet the special needs of particular groups;
• all recruitment agencies acting for the firm are aware of its requirement not to discriminate and to act accordingly.

The firm reviews and revises its Recruitment Policy procedures on an annual basis to ensure it attracts and retains individuals from diverse backgrounds.

All recruitment application forms have voluntary equality and diversity monitoring forms attached. Once completed and returned they are retained for monitoring and central analysis.

Partners