Addressing gender imbalance makes complete commercial sense

COMMENT: It is well known that gender imbalance in the real estate sector has been an issue for decades, and that this imbalance is also reflected in the world of law. Encouragingly, both professions have recognised this problem and have worked out that addressing it is not only the right thing to do, but also makes complete commercial sense. Both industries have, as a result, made huge strides in recent years towards achieving a better and more representative balance in their respective workforces. At DLA Piper, we have seen an increase in female partner promotions, lateral partner hires, and in women taking up senior leadership positions in recent years. Initiatives such as EG’s Future Female Leaders are examples of both how far the industry has come, but also how far we still need to go. DLA Piper as a firm has several diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as our Gender Talent Roadmap, which is focused on increasing the proportion of women in leadership roles. We are also recognised as leaders in our approach to agile working across all levels of the business, which enables people to fit work in around other commitments that may exist in their lives. Inspiring everyone Within the real estate division more specifically, we produce a book of all the inspiring women in the group globally to help encourage and motivate others. We do this annually around International Women’s Day, and it really demonstrates the importance we place on achieving gender balance at the firm. It is a clear reminder of the huge talent pool of outstanding female real estate lawyers that exist at DLA Piper. Our EG Future Leader Alanna Hasek was an excellent choice, and has been a fantastic advocate for the firm. She has truly made the most of the opportunity with EG; her confidence and energy in the past few months has been infectious in the office, and her talk on diversity in professional services at the closing event was inspiring. As a firm we actively foster an inclusive culture where we strive to make everyone feel they belong and can thrive within a supportive environment. There is no clearer example of this than the development of our global internal employee network, The Leadership Alliance for Women, which promotes peer support, networking and client collaboration and focuses on both the advancement of women to leadership positions and the strengthening of the pipeline of female talent. We are also proud members of Real Estate Balance, and have signed up to their CEO commitments to making a lasting change, which sees us regularly collaborating with our clients and contacts in the industry to host mentoring lunches in order to share ideas and promote positive role models. Always improving Last year, DLA Piper went through a wide ranging consultative process to refresh our global firm values to better define our culture and behaviour. These values are embodied by four pillars – to be supportive, to be collaborative, to be bold, and to be exceptional in all that we do at work. Programmes like EG’s FFL act as a beacon for these values and, through her involvement with EG and this year’s event, I am proud to say that Alanna fully embodies all of them. She is an inspiration to the juniors coming through the ranks and also to her senior colleagues. William Naunton is UK head of real estate, DLA Piper