Biglaw

Biglaw Firm Does Away With Gendered Language

Important step for inclusion.

By  
on

Clifford Chance is making an important move to challenge gender assumptions. It may seem like a small thing, but, as reported by Legal Cheek, the firm is modifying its correspondence templates, ditching “Dear Sirs,” and telling attorneys to avoid gender specific pronouns and adjectives (i.e., she/her/hers) and words that assume a role is associated with a particular gender, such as “chairman.”

They aren’t the first firm to pay attention to the ways language shapes normative assumptions about gender. Four years ago, Freshfields adjusted their templates to do away with gendered language, and Quinn Emanuel also made the gender neutral jump in February.

The firm says that gender neutral language is a way to call into question our unconscious biases and that not everyone identifies as either male or female:

“We are continuously collaborating with our clients to see how we can better advance our commitment to inclusion,” Clifford Chance’s global director of inclusion Tiernan Brady said. “The words and language we use matter greatly. They send a signal of our values and can have both a positive and negative impact on others and on our culture.”

“Removing gendered language from our communications is a subtle but impactful way of demonstrating what we stand for, and I’m delighted to see these steps taken in our firm.”

Good for them! Let’s hope even more firms get on board.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

Sponsored

Topics

,