UK law firms are scoring just 1 out 10 on diversity

Managing IP published an article this week on DEI in pitches having surveyed 2,000 in-house professionals.

The results were stark: UK law firms scored just 10/100 on their DEI efforts.

Such a low score raises broader questions about credibility, self‑awareness and how prepared firms are to engage meaningfully when their efforts are scrutinised.

DEI and ESG are increasingly being used as early credibility checks as well as a final scoring mechanisms, meaning firms are not getting a foot in the door if their partners don’t understand their firm’s position and progress.

Where insight and BD guidance make the difference

Business insight underpins effective pitching. When BD teams, fee earners, and ESG leads understand client priorities and competitor positioning, they are better equipped to prepare with focus and confidence.

When firms understand:

• Their client’s ESG and DEI priorities
• How competitors are positioning themselves

They are far better placed to identify:

• What truly matters to clients
• What the current benchmark looks like
• Where the firm can genuinely make an impact

Pitches that resonate

Insight allows pitches to move beyond generic statements towards relevance and specificity.

Practical questions BD teams can help surface include:

• Are there examples of initiatives or behaviours that directly mirror the client’s own DEI priorities?
• Can you demonstrate how DEI informs the team’s experience, not just what the firm says it believes? For example, can the team outline their firm’s community outreach if local impact is important?

Done well, these experiences shifts DEI from a static section in a pitch document to a genuine differentiator grounded in evidence and context.

As the article outlines, one of the most common and avoidable errors, is failing to reflect a firm’s DEI story in the pitch room itself. A firm may speak convincingly about diversity and inclusion yet arrive with a homogeneous senior team. Regardless of intent, that disconnect is immediately visible and it undermines everything else being said.

How to articulate your efforts compellingly

When I review law firm ESG and DEI communications, the strongest examples are not necessarily the largest firms. Whether your firm is near the beginning of its journey or is at the forefront of progress, make sure you articulate:

• The firm’s specific efforts and targets,
• Progress being made, and
• DEI in action

This cuts through far more effectively than pages of policy.

Too often clients are presented with reams of documentation, leaving them unclear on what ESG and DEI look like from lived experience. The firms making real progress stand out by being clearer, more human and more concrete. This shouldn't only be the realm of corporate account LinkedIn posts outlining team CSR days, but transcend to fee earners being able to articulate their firm’s journey, progress and what that means to them and the client.

For legal buyers, credibility and humanity is everything — and ESG and DEI efforts have become a very real test of it.