Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has appointed London-based global banking co-leader Daisy Reeves as its inaugural inclusion and diversity client relationship partner, the firm has announced. 

The “first-of-its-kind” role will see Reeves dedicate her practice to collaboration with clients on best practice in diversity, equity and inclusion across the firm’s 30 offices. She will cover matters including LGBTQ+, gender, disability and mental health.

Reeves explained that the exclusively external-facing role stands out as it is not a fee-earning one for the firm, but rather one that will focus on improving the inclusion landscape for its clients.

BCLP has made a conscious effort to step up its client-focused diversity and inclusion offerings to match developing topics in recent years, including the introduction of a masterclass on psychological safety that focuses on the impact COVID-19 and movements such as Black Lives Matter and #metoo have on workplace culture. 

“This is more important now than it ever has been before as we emerge from Covid into a world where individuals, employees and clients alike are increasingly driven by the motivation of being upstanding ‘corporate citizens’ across the ESG platform,” Reeves said. 

“This role has been created so that, by working with our clients and communities, we can help achieve that goal together.”

Her work will be complimented by that of the firm’s diversity and inclusion directors Justine Thompson and Tommy Shi and their teams, as well as the firm’s diversity and inclusion co-chairs — partners Meridyth Andresen in Pheonix and Segun Osuntokun in London — and the firm’s global inclusion and diversity action board. 

Reeves, who joined City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner in 2002 prior to its 2018 merger with St Louis-based practice Bryan Cave, is a longstanding member of BCLP’s global inclusion and diversity action board and a key driver of the firm’s internal inclusion and diversity initiatives.

Throughout her career, Reeves has been recognised as a top-ranking voice in the fields of diversity and inclusion within the legal industry and more widely. Under her guidance, BCLP made Stonewall’s Top Global Employer list in 2020 and reached the second spot in their cross-sector Workplace Equality Index, as well as being included on the global charity’s Top Trans Employers list in 2019. 

Lisa Mayhew and Steve Baumer, BCLP’s co-chairs, commented: “Daisy has a unique understanding of both the global inclusion landscape and BCLP’s diversity platform, and we are excited to utilise Daisy’s experience as a change agent so BCLP can further collaborate with our clients to foster inclusion wherever we do business.” 

“We’re delighted to innovate with our clients through this new role as we continue our long-standing commitment to inclusion and diversity, central to our firm’s values and vision,” Mayhew and Baumer said in a statement announcing the move. 

Reeves’ appointment is the latest move to stem from the firm’s multi-year business transformation and growth program, Project Advance, which was implemented last fall. 

Recently, many UK firms have been working towards improving their diversity and inclusion programs as the environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement continues to gain momentum across different sectors. 

In March, Magic Circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer published a new set of diversity targets and commitments as part of its refreshed approach to equality, aiming to ensure at least 40% of new partners are women and 40% are male, with an additional 20% either men, women or non-binary by 2026, having appointed just four women partners in 2020 out of 21. 

Earlier this month, Vodafone revealed its refreshed global legal advice panel, selecting law firms based on a shared commitment to promoting diversity targets and ESG best practice under the stewardship of general counsel and company secretary Rosemary Martin.