Shearman & Sterling has been appointed as one of the lead partners on the General Counsel for Diversity & Inclusion Initiative (GCD&I). The GCD&I was launched in early 2019, and now includes 117 General Counsel from a broad spectrum of companies. GCD&I aims to achieve greater equity, diversity and inclusion across the legal sector including through defining and sharing best practice, identifying KPIs and Metrics to measure success, and encouraging in-house legal teams to take steps which support greater DE&I within legal firms.

In a new phase, the GCD&I have appointed 12 Lead Partner law firms. These firms have been identified by the Steering Group for a number of reasons including their global reach and the resource they can provide to actively support the initiative in its next phase of growth. In its role as a lead partner, Shearman & Sterling will work with General Counsel of major companies to help develop the conversation about how In-House teams and Law Firms can effectively work together, enhancing not only equity, diversity, and inclusion but also the day-to-day ways of working.

Center to this initiative will be the Expertise Communities which will bring together everything relating to that area of DE&I. Initially there will be four Expertise Communities including, gender, ethnicity LBGTQI+, and Ability.