London—Dentons Construction lawyer Esther McDermott has been named as one of the top 10 LGBT+ Corporate Rising Stars at the British LGBT Awards 2017. Esther is just one of the three construction sector nominees to be recognised in the Corporate Rising Stars category this year.

Esther specialises in all types of construction dispute resolution, including arbitration (domestic and international), litigation in the Technology and Construction Court and the Chancery Division of the High Court, mediation and adjudication. She also has experience in real estate litigation.

Along with her work in the construction sector, Esther is passionate about diversity and promoting cultural change both at Dentons and within the legal sector generally. She is co-Chair of Dentons’ UK LGBT network, GLOW, which promotes understanding of LGBT issues and provides support and mentoring opportunities to LGBT staff. Esther is also a founding committee member of the Law Society’s LGBT division.

In 2017, the Dentons UK LGBT network, GLOW, was awarded 'Highly Commended' status for its achievements by Stonewall, the UK-based LGBT equality charity. In addition to this status, the Firm was ranked in 17th position in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers 2017, a ranking of the highest performing UK organisations in the campaign group's Workplace Equality Index, an annual audit of workplace culture for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff. 

Following on from the success of the Dentons UK LGBT network and other LGBT networks within other Dentons' regions, the Firm recently launched a global LGBT group in May 2017, an affinity group for LGBT+ colleagues and all non-LGBT+ colleagues.

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