Slaughter and May has appointed a director of responsible business to take charge of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda. 

Uzma Hamid-Dizier, who is based in London, stepped up to the role on 1 May from her position as head of the responsible business and inclusion team at the Magic Circle UK firm, which said her promotion reflected its commitment to putting responsible business and sustainability ‘at the heart of what it does’.

She will report to the firm's chief operating officer, Jill Hoseason, who joined the firm from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer last year, as part of a wider shake up of its leadership, and also work closely with Slaughters’ head of sustainability, corporate partner Jeff Twentyman.

Her responsibilities will cover the firm’s D&I commitments, carbon emission reduction targets and its pro bono and collaborative partnerships with charities to combat climate change and improve social injustice. 

Her appointment follows a flurry of initiatives by the firm to improve its ESG credentials. 

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Read the GLP Timeline ESG and the Law

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In May last year, it set D&I targets for the first time, which included ensuring at least 40% of equity partner promotions are women in the ten years to 2027 and that 'between May 2020 and April 2025, a minimum of 15% of equity partner promotions in London and Brussels will be from ethnic minority backgrounds'.

Last July, it unveiled three part-time working programmes for associates, which were designed to allow junior lawyers to take more control of their flexible working arrangements as lockdown rules eased.

And in November, it joined forces with seven other leading law firms to launch an initiative to tackle the underrepresentation of black, Asian and minority ethinic groups in the UK legal profession.

Last month, Simmons & Simmons hired Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s former head of sustainability regulation, Sonali Siriwardena, to lead its global ESG strategy, and in February Dentons hired Hogan Lovells’ sustainability head Aragon St-Charles to lead its global ESG efforts.