Linklaters releases ethnicity pay gap data

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By Legal Cheek on

Follows Allen & Overy in publishing voluntary figures

Linklaters has become only the second major UK law firm to publish its ethnicity pay gap figures, revealing a partner inclusive UK mean of 30.3%. The median is 0%.

The firm’s decision to voluntarily disclose the figures comes just days after the government closed a consultation on whether mandatory reporting will help address ethnic disparities, particularly with regards to pay and career progression.

Taking its high-earning partners out of the equation, Linklaters’ mean and median ethnicity pay gaps come out at 8.6% and -6.4%, respectively. The bonus ethnicity pay gap, again excluding partners, is 42.6% (mean) and 6.1% (median).

Linklaters says its decision to publish the figures is part of a wider “strategy to increase the representation of BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] colleagues at all levels in the firm”. Commenting on the gap, the report states:

“Our BAME population is relatively small, so changes within the BAME group can have a disproportionate impact on our pay gap figures. We also rely on our people to voluntarily report on their ethnicity to inform this data.”

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As part of today’s report, Linklaters also published its latest gender pay figures — a mean result of 61.1% and a median of 37%, inclusive of partners. This compared to last year’s results of 60.3% (mean) and 44.2% (median). Taking partners out of the equation, the mean and median gaps drop to 20.8% and 33.9%, respectively. The 2018 bonus gap, again excluding partners, is 55.3% (mean) and 30.8% (median).

However, Linklaters isn’t the first top City outfit to publish its ethnicity pay data. Fellow magic circler Allen & Overy published a partner inclusive mean of 21.6% and median of -26.8%. Addressing the gap and taking a similar line to Links, Allen & Overy’s report states:

“As the size of the two populations (BAME and non-BAME) differs so significantly, very small workforce composition changes can cause a large change to the overall mean and median ethnicity pay gap.”

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