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The latest report from magic circles firm Linklaters LLP says its gender and ethnicity pay gaps have narrowed from 2020, though they remain far from where they want or need to be, according to the report. Senior Partner Aedamar Comiskey.

The company’s official 2021 UK gender pay report shows that its gender pay gap has narrowed compared to 2020. The average gender pay gap for employees, which includes social partners, decreased by 1% to 61.9% in 2021, while the average employee pay gap, which excludes financial partners, now stands at 18.8%, down from 20.7% in 2020 .

The median pay gap, excluding partners, fell from 38.8% in 2020 to 34.51% in 2021, while the median pay gap, including partners, fell from 39.5% in 2020 to 33, 6% in 2021.

The company explained: “While our gender pay gap has narrowed compared to 2020, it continues to exist due to the composition of our workforce. We have a higher proportion of women in secretarial and junior sales positions, which are mostly in our lowest pay quartile. While these roles are competitively rewarded by market reference, the fact that so many of them are filled by women has the effect of reducing the average salary and bonuses of women in our company.

Meanwhile, the company also voluntarily disclosed information related to its ethnic pay gap. The average ethnic pay gap within the company, which excludes associates, decreased by 4.4% from 10.8% in 2020 to 6.4% in 2021, while the average pay gap, including associates, actually increased slightly from 34.6% in 2020 to 36.5% in 2021. 2021.

Following Linklater’s 2020 commitment to “improve the representation of black and underrepresented minority lawyers and business team members,” the firm said its “ethnic pay gap report shows an increase in the number of black and minority ethnic people advancing through the cabinet and taking up higher positions.”

That said, the cabinet also acknowledged that, despite this progress, there remains a “serious under-representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic people” at the highest levels of the cabinet.

In March 2021, Linklaters adopted the Halo Code – the UK’s first black hair code, which “explicitly protects employees who come to work with natural hair and protective hairstyle associated with their racial, ethnic and cultural identities.

You can read more about the company’s adoption of the Halo Code in LCN News, as well as the Diversity Hub to find out what other companies are doing to improve diversity and inclusion. The Diversity Hub is sponsored by Gowling WLG (UK) LLP.