Scots international law firm Pinsent Masons is on a mission to get more female lawyers in top positions at the company.
The London-headquartered firm, which has Scottish offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, has launched Project Sky to remove any barriers to women progressing to high-level positions.
Led by employment partner Linda Jones, Project Sky aims to ensure 30% of the firm’s partnership comprises of women, with a first milestone target of 25% set for May 2018.
“Currently more than 20% of the Pinsent Masons partnership is female, while two out of nine people on our board are women, benchmarking well against comparable firms in the professional services sector,” said Ms Jones.
“However, around 70% of the lawyers coming into the business are female while the proportion of women in partnership is fairly static and change is required if we are to properly utilise this talent.”
The scheme was devised following consultation with a number of staff at the firm, in conjunction with gender issues consultancy Female Breadwinners.
It aims to promote transparent career development, give greater access to flexible working hours and provide more structure support for paternal leave.
Senior partner Chris Mullen said: “As a contributing factor to the firm’s future success, it is important that the firm’s workforce is diverse and reflects the communities in which we operate.”
Meanwhile, figures released by the Scottish Government ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday, reveal that the number of female entrepreneurs in Scotland receiving assistance to start up and grow their own businesses is on the rise.
And according to figures from Business Gateway, more than one third of the 10,000 new businesses formed in 2013 are led by women.
Finance secretary John Swinney will this week launch details of further work to support women in business.
“We need to harness the female entrepreneurial spirit and see more female ambassadors being publicly profiled as role models,” said Mr Swinney.