extense is mission-driven to increase underrepresented talent retention and progression to senior levels, within the legal profession.
Our greater purpose is full, sustained participation and advancement of underrepresented talent in the legal industry; across the intersection of ethnicity, social mobility, gender, LGBTQ+ and disability identity strands.
Our deliverables benefit your business outcomes.
Companies in the top quartile of ethnic and cultural diversity on their executive teams are 36% more likely to experience above average profitability, compared to peer companies in the lower quartile.
(McKinsey & Company, Diversity wins: how inclusion matters, 2020)
Black, asian and ethnic minority solicitors spend on average 20% less time at their respective law firm, compared to the dominant group.
(Rare, Closing the ethnicity stay gap, 2020)
Solicitors from lower socio-economic backgrounds take a year and a half longer on average to reach partnership, compared to their colleagues from higher socio-economic backgrounds.
(Bridge Group, Pathways to partnership: challenging the myth of meritocracy, 2020)
EBIT (earnings before income and tax) are almost 10% points higher for companies with above average diversity on their leadership teams, than companies with below average leadership diversity.
(Boston Consulting Group, How diverse leadership teams boost innovation, 2018)
extense is the trusted DEI advisor for lawyers, law firms, and their clients. We hand-hold organisations through each step of their inclusion journey, and turn intentions into impact.
Our support is tailored to where your organisation currently is along its inclusion journey. Our USP is legal sector specialism. We are able to be more effective for you because we understand the life-cycle of a lawyer / law firm business services staff, and the ecosystem they operate in. Our solutions are curated specifically for modern legal work environments.
Some orgnisations are restarting their inclusion journey and require road-mapping, strategic advice and project management. Other law firms are further along their inclusion journey and use extense as expert execution for specific deliverables from their DE&I strategy.
We offer continuity of external specialists. Our services are sequential, beginning with discovery, before implementation, followed by optimisation; across our three service lines: (1) inclusion consultancy; (2) DEI training solutions; (3) diverse lateral acquisition. 'DICE framework' change management methodology guides our data-led, evidence-based services:
Independent listening sessions
External 'stay interviews'
Commissioned research
Retained search
Race Fluency / Allyship workshop
Inclusive Recruiting workshop
Supervisor training
DEI speaker / panel bookings
'The 1% Study' is an extense primary research investigation to discover the key contributing factors that have assisted Black solicitors to reach the partnership level within major law firms in the UK. The research is endorsed by the Black Solicitors Network, The Law Society of England and Wales, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority .
Rt Hon. David Lammy MP (Foreign Secretary) is the official Patron to 'The 1% Study'.
'The 1% Study' is sponsored by: DLA Piper; Herbert Smith Freehills; Hogan Lovells; Latham & Watkins; and Linklaters.
Click play to watch the launch event (below).
Click on the image below to view 'The 1% Study' report.
(Hard copies are available to order.)
“extense chaired an insightful session on ‘The 1% Study’ for a large group of our partners. Their clear articulation of the research findings and the suggested ‘actions for law firms’ provided us with insight and practical steps to implement in our race action plan. We really appreciate extense’ support in working to achieve our objectives.”
“In a recent staff survey a quarter of people in our organisation reported discomfort talking about D&I related issues, for fear they might say the wrong thing. To begin to address these issues we have decided to partner with extense. We will be rolling out their Race Fluency workshop which is based on robust research and methodology, and delivered by race and ethnicity experts. Over the past few months, we have been working closely working with extense to ensure the content is tailored to Kennedys. First, we piloted the workshop in the UK and then in the US, and we are now ready to roll out their bespoke workshop across our UK partnership and our US partnership. The ability to confidently lead an open and constructive conversation concerning race is a critical interpersonal skill, necessary for inclusive workplace interactions.”
“extense gave a great presentation, and we had a very pleasing turnout. The practical and forward-looking nature of ‘The 1% Study’ makes its findings and recommendations so relevant and useful in our mission to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in our profession.”
“A key part of our D&I strategy is to better understand the experiences of our staff to ensure we are effective in our approach to greater diversity and inclusion. We commissioned extense to conduct a series of Independent Inclusion Listening Sessions. This involved a cross-section of our workforce, fee-earners and business services staff, from across our UK offices. They took part in focus groups with an extense external facilitator and were able to share their honest experiences of inclusion in an independent safe space. This discovery exercise helped us to gauge where we currently were along our inclusion journey and harvest ideas for improvement. It provided an evidential basis for follow on D&I initiatives. These then went to our Management Board for
approval.”
“extense delivered an engaging session to our UK Race and Ethnicity Network. The session explored the findings of ‘The 1% Study’ and focused on how its evidence-based actions and advice points can support our work to address barriers to attraction, retention and progression of ethnic minority talent.”
In 2021, extense was appointed to a government commissioned Taskforce working group, to boost socio-economic diversity at senior levels across UK Financial Services and Professional Services.
The Taskforce is set up by HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. It is led by the City of London Corporation and the Social Mobility Commission.
extense will be responsible for
designing and delivering workstream outputs. Other organisations appointed to the Taskforce include: Bank of England, BCLP, BlackRock, Deloitte, DLA Piper, EY, Eversheds Sutherland, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Kennedys, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, Mishcon De Reya, Norton Rose Fulbright, PwC and Schroders. (Click on the image below for more information.)
extense Law Firm Race & Ethnicity Index gives you a wide-angle view of the competing positions of the top 40 UK and US law firms in the UK, specific to race and ethnicity diversity, equity and inclusion.
Our evaluation is the culmination of multiple years of primary research across the UK legal market. We use proprietary quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods to measure the relative market positions of law firms, specific to their execution and innovation in diversity, equity and inclusion; specific to race and ethnicity.
Applying a graphical treatment and a uniform set of evaluation metrics, our Law Race & Ethnicity Index helps you to quickly ascertain how well law firms in the UK are progressing their stated race and ethnicity DE&I strategy, and how well they are performing against the market view.
extense works with law firm clients and prospective purchasers of legal services to compare and contrast law firm strengths and challenges in relation to ethnicity DE&I. Assessments are in the context of external counsel RFP and panel selection criteria.
extense is purpose-driven to elevate more Black, Asian, ethnic minority and female talent, as well as those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, into partnership and leadership roles within the legal profession.
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