More than 250 UK-based individuals, law firms, legal teams and not-for-profit groups have been singled out for their efforts to improve the profession’s diversity.

The Women and Diversity in Law Awards, which are hosted by The Global Legal Post, today unveiled the nominees for the 2025 ceremony, which will take place at Hilton Bankside in London on 18 March.

The diverse roster of nominees spans all levels of seniority within the profession from Unsung Heroes to potential winners of the flagship Woman of the Year category.  

Today’s publication of the nominees marks a crucial stage of the awards process.

The nominees are now invited to submit entries for consideration by a high-level judging panel comprising some of the legal profession’s leading diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) campaigners, role models and experts.  

The online entry forms take the shape of questionnaires which have been carefully framed to allow for a fair judging process.  

Individuals, teams and businesses who have not been nominated may also join the process at this stage by submitting entries: the awards process is designed to unearth as diverse a group of deserving people, teams and businesses as possible in accordance with the principles of DE&I.

Click here for instructions on how to enter and here to view the categories and submit entries.

This year’s awards in March featured 350 finalists, awards judges and other legal professionals, and were hosted by British actress Natalie Gumede.

Bar Council vice chair Barbara Mills KC was the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Fieldfisher director Caron Heyes was named Woman of the Year, for her clinical negligence work supporting clients with injury-acquired learning difficulties, who often face unequal healthcare outcomes.  

Other individual winners included:

• Serjeants’ Inn Chambers’ Nageena Khalique KC took home the Advocate of the Year award for her work in championing the rights of vulnerable members of society, particularly in serious medical treatment cases that impact reproductive rights, sexual autonomy and religious beliefs.  
• Neurodiversikey co-founder Danielle Gleicher-Bates was named DE&I Champion of the Year in a Specialist Role for her advocacy work on neurodiversity and efforts to increase neuroinclusion in the legal industry.
• Harbottle & Lewis head of technology, data and digital Emma Wright won the Law Firm Leader of the Year – Small-to-Medium-Sized Practice for her work promoting diversity across the firm and around the world, including through the launch of a ‘Diverse Founders’ legal offering to create a more diverse pipeline of founders and start-ups.  

Team awards winners included Farrer & Co, which lifted the Age and Life Stage Initiative of the Year award for its menopause support initiative, which was created in response to a significant lack of awareness and understanding about menopause issues among lawyers, and the International Bar Association, which scooped the Gender Equality Initiative of the Year award for its hugely ambitious nine-year global project to uncover the root-causes of gender disparity at senior levels of the legal profession.  

For a full round-up of the winners and why they won, click here.

For a third year, mental health charity LawCare is confirmed as the awards’ official charity, with its chief executive, Elizabeth Rimmer, joining the judging panel.  

New judges this year include Kate Richardson-Moore, director of diversity and talent, Linklaters; Lisa Ardley-Price, global co-chair of NatWest’s gender network, and Jane Livesey, an ADHD empowerment coach and neuro-inclusive transformation specialist.  

The awards are divided into three sections. In the first half, Outstanding Women Leaders and Outstanding Women Practitioners will be recognised. The second half addresses diversity more broadly, seeking to highlight the stand-out initiatives and individuals across its different strands.