London—Dentons has launched an Accelerating Race Strategy Action Plan across the UK in response to the Black Lives Matter protests and Dentons' inclusion and diversity strategy. The launch coincides with the firm's focus on Black History Month in October. The plan takes steps to achieve Dentons' commitment to a 20% diversity target in aggregate across ethnicity, LGBT and disability in the UK, Ireland and Middle East partnership by 2025. 

"Recent events have had a profound effect on how many of us are feeling about the issues of inclusion, equality and justice. There can be no true inclusivity where we have racial inequality – it undermines us all and makes our achievements less," said Jeremy Cohen, UK, Ireland and Middle East CEO.

"This is a watershed moment and now is the time for dialogue, awareness and action from businesses and their leaders. We must tackle racial injustice if we are to become the most inclusive firm we aspire to be. This is a priority for our firm, and it is my personal priority to work with our Black Professionals Network and Asian Professionals Network to create the type of firm where everyone can thrive."

The Race Strategy Action Plan is anchored on three key principles: 

1. Raise understanding of race issues, including:
• Launch webinars by diversity and inclusion training provider Pearn Kandola on topics such as "Racism at work", "Don't be a bystander" and "Micro-incivilities".
• Launch "Be each other's best ally" programme, to integrate BAME issues across all internal networks and heighten intersectional understanding.
• Roll-out inclusive leadership actions to partners and business services leaders, with leaders committing to three actions each, designed to increase their visibility on inclusion and diversity.
• Black Professionals Network to publish curated resources, including a glossary of terms and actions.
• Review inclusion indicators in annual Engagement Survey to understand the experience of inclusion.
2. Open dialogue and two-way engagement, including:
• Celebrate Black History Month with events, including a talk by award-winning historian, presenter and author David Olusoga, who will bring a historical perspective to Black Lives Matter and what we can learn from the past to change the future; and a "fireside chat" where two BAME associates explain how they have been mentoring UK, Ireland and Middle East CEO Jeremy Cohen and Corporate partner Jayne Schnider.
• Commence internal "Disrupt Racism!" campaign which aims to raise awareness, open dialogue and commit to act in order to address racial inequality and promote inclusion.
• Agenda race on all team meetings.
• Bring client perspectives into the conversation.
3. Advance the careers of BAME staff:
• Follow through on the "Race Fairness Commitment" to combat career obstacles faced by BAME lawyers. 
• Launch BAME student scholarship programme to strengthen the firm's graduate recruitment pipeline. 
• Review lateral hire practices.
• Map BAME talent to focus on openly discussing career aspirations and match individuals to mentors, sponsors and role models.
• Conduct retention "stay interview" focus groups to understand retention factors and improve the retention of our BAME talent.
• Participate in targeted BAME talent development programmes to help build a stronger talent pipeline.
• Build career inspiration via diverse Pathways to Partnership panels to illuminate the journey and increase the visibility of role models.
• Participate in the law firm Pirical ethnicity data collaboration for improved data analytics and benchmarking, in order to understand key trends and benchmarks to inform and evaluate progress
• Publish ethnicity pay gap in April 2021.
• Review 20% by 2025 target to set a specific BAME target for the partnership and leadership roles. 

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