Clifford Chance

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has seen two of its people feature in the HERoes Women Role Model Advocates List 2020, presented by Yahoo Finance, which showcase leaders who are championing women in business and driving change for gender diversity in the workplace across the world.

Alice Jefferis, Senior Associate Global Financial Markets, has been included at number 33 in the HERoes 100 Women Future Leaders List, which recognises high performing and high potential individuals at various levels in their careers. Alice is co-founder of the global gender parity group Accelerate >>> and chairs its UK arm. She led on design and delivery of a reverse mentoring scheme, collaborates with other affinity groups to ensure intersectionality and incorporates diverse feedback to ensure inclusivity. Alice helped support and launch Accelerate>>> in unrepresented offices across Clifford Chance's network and actively promotes gender parity internally and externally through a targeted strategy.

Over the last two years, she has successfully campaigned for and helped deliver the signing of the Law Society's Women in Law Pledge, the introduction of time-specific diversity and inclusion targets and equalisation of shared parental leave. She has also worked with Spark21, a charity aimed at raising visibility of women in law, and following the onset of COVID-19, persuaded Clifford Chance to allocate funds to enable the London Black Women’s Project to open a new refuge required due to increased domestic violence.

David Harkness, Partner, has been included at has been included at number 34 in the HERoes 50 Advocates List, which focuses on individuals who do not identify as women, but who are dedicated to creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace environment for women. David is Chair of Clifford Chance’s UK Inclusion Committee and has championed a series of initiatives to promote gender inclusion and diversity including publishing pay gap data beyond the statutory minimum, designating partners at every remuneration meeting to ensure gender equality is respected, and creating a network of “Inclusion Advocates” to support those at the receiving end of any sexist behaviour or unconscious bias. He encouraged the relaunch of Accelerate>>> as a global gender parity group and the introduction of a new target of 30% women UK partners by 2025. David is also a member of the Development Board at Tender; a charity dedicated to reducing domestic violence.

The 2020 women and advocate role models made a submission outlining the work they have done to increase inclusion in business for women. Each person was judged on the influence of their role, their impact on gender inclusion and equality inside and outside the workplace and their business achievements.

View more information on Clifford Chance's Gender parity group and broader inclusion and diversity initiatives.