Lewis Silkin announces pronoun initiative in support of LGBT+ community

We are delighted to announce our latest initiative in support of the LGBT+ community as part of our ongoing actions to mark LGBT+ Pride month.

We are now encouraging our staff to include their personal pronouns in email signatures. The use of gender pronouns (she/her, he/him or they/them, for example) is an important marker of identity. By giving our staff this option, we hope to normalise the practice of sharing pronouns and continue to be an ally to the trans and non-binary communities.

Jo Evans, Head of the Diversity and Inclusion Board and Corporate partner, and Lucy Lewis, Values partner and employment partner comment:

Being referred to by the wrong pronouns, or “misgendering”, can be very painful, in particular for many trans and non-binary people. This initiative aims to foster an environment in which all of our colleagues can feel comfortable being their whole selves at work.  We hope this small but important change can help normalise the discussion of pronouns, reduce risk and embarrassment for trans and non-binary people when sharing their pronouns and discourage assumptions about others’ gender.

Richard Miskella, joint managing partner, comments:

I am proud of the work our firm is doing in support of our LGBT+ community. This is one of many initiatives that epitomises Lewis Silkin’s aspirations to be a diverse and inclusive employer and a market-leading law firm.

If you’d like to find out more about what you can do, we can recommend these articles from Stonewall on how to be a trans and non-binary ally.