Equal opportunities & diversity
We are committed to providing equal opportunities and encouraging diversity for all. We believe that everybody should be treated on his or her merits regardless of sex, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, civil partnership status, pregnancy, age, disability, religion or belief.
The aim of this policy is to ensure every effort is made to conduct the firm’s activities so that job applicants and employees have an equal opportunity of being recruited and promoted.
Pure Potential
Pure Potential is an organisation that helps thousands of bright students from the state sector - from year 12s to graduates - with their journey through UCAS forms, university life, student finance and career choices through their events and website.
We take part in these events and are involved in running workshops with the students at one of the selected universities.
Social Mobility Foundation
The Social Mobility Foundation is a registered charity, which works to secure placements for bright A level students from low-income families, immediately before they apply for entry to university.
Those awarded a placement spend a week working in several departments across the firm, which provides them with information about a career in law as well as certain skills required by many leading employers.
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck is a world-class research and teaching institution, a vibrant centre of academic excellence and London’s only specialist provider of evening higher education. Their new project, Birkbeck East, based at Stratford, is aimed at increasing access to those who would not otherwise engage in higher education.
In August 2008 we received regulatory clearance to use £50,000 of dormant client funds to create a bursary for Birkbeck students. We were able to take advantage of the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s new matched funding scheme to boost the bursary by a third and to offer a total grant of £75,000.
We also support the Birkbeck hardship fund. We help fund postgraduate bursaries for those students whose work contributes towards creating lasting socio-economic and/or environmental change and development in the local community.
In addition, the Denton Wilde Sapte Charitable Trust has committed to funding the education of a Birkbeck student over four years from September 2007.
Mosaic
One of Mosaic’s key functions is to encourage links between successful Muslim professionals and disadvantaged young Muslims, in order to raise aspirations and increase access to opportunities for education and employment. The project involves mentoring students at John Kelly Boys School in Neasden. Seven DWS volunteers attend the school once a month to mentor groups of 5 or 10 students and in July 2009 we hosted an event for number of them.