Diversity

Diversity and equal opportunities for everyone are essential to our continued success

Everyone with a talent can perfect their talent at Gorrissen Federspiel. All present and future employees are assessed on the basis of their talents. We never look at a person’s social background, culture, gender, ethnic background, religion, age, colour or sexual orientation. We strive for diversity in the composition of employees.

Gorrissen Federspiel has a diverse and inclusive workforce. This serves to help us see our clients’ challenges and opportunities in a more nuanced way and thereby create greater value and confidence in our advice. Our diversity and inclusion policy is, e.g., reflected through the following:

• Values: By living our values every day and showing the decency that makes both clients and employees feel included.
• Talent: By attracting, retaining and developing talent and enabling everyone to fulfil their potential.
• Development: By Gorrissen Federspiel’s employees seeking insight into other cultural and professional environments, you gain knowledge of other approaches to learning and teaching.
• Tone of communication: By listening to each other and being helpful. We communicate openly and trustfully with each other and we do not accept discriminatory, offensive or derogatory behaviour.

The Diversity Council

In 2017, Gorrissen Federspiel joined a new strategic initiative as a founding partner, The Danish Diversity Council – now The Diversity Council (DC). The aim of this initiative is to boost the number of female talents at top-level management in Danish companies. We decided to join this partnership, since we focus on how we, as a law firm, can get better at motivating and retaining talents of both genders.

Within the DC context, we have chosen three strategic focus areas:

• Securing a talent pipeline
• Inclusive management
• The preferred workplace of the future

Moreover, the DC has in cooperation with The Financial Times/IE Business School Corporate Learning Alliance set up the Advanced Leadership Programme. Under this programme, participants in the Master Class programme all have a Cross Industry Mentor, who will be at their disposal to discuss career development.

”The lawyers that we have selected for this programme are all candidates with high potential at each their level of seniority. We hope that – in addition to gaining a maximum professional reward – they will also act as role models and ambassadors in our further efforts to strengthen and retain our pipeline of talented lawyers,” says Head of HR Sara Jursic.

AdvokatKODEKS

We adhere to the code of conduct issued by the Association of Danish Law Firms (in Danish: advokatKODEKS), which aims to improve the practice of law in terms of openness, social responsibility, ethics, client and employee focus as well as versatility and diversity.

Lead the Future

Gorrissen Federspiel is involved in the role model campaign ‘Lead the Future’ targeting young women at higher education institutions in Denmark. The campaign was launched by the Danish Minister for Gender Equality and the DC in the spring of 2018. Like our fellow partner companies, we have from our firm selected three female role models: partner Camilla C. Collet, partner Charlotte Louise Thorsen and partner Gitte Dehn Lansner. At the campaign’s website, all three of them have shared their personal stories about for instance their choice of career and their view on work-life balance. These stories are meant to serve as inspiration for young women.

”In my line of business, there is a great need to inspire especially younger women. There are generally few young female partners. This is probably because many women cannot see themselves in the role of partner in a law firm after they have children. I want to lead the way and show that it is possible to combine a career as a female partner and a well-balanced family life,” says Charlotte Louise Thorsen.

Read the personal stories told by Camilla, Charlotte and Gittes in connection with the campaign.