LCP has truly established its prominence in advocating a diversity and inclusion (D&I) agenda and has claimed the title for the second consecutive year.

Despite the widespread societal upheaval caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the last 12 months, LCP has delivered campaigns across issues such as race, sexuality, gender equality and mental health.

Initiatives include its Let's Talk About Race campaign, its virtual group challenges targeting improved mental health, and signing up for campaign group Stonewall's Trans Rights Are Human Rights campaign.

"D&I at LCP is not a seperate initiative, it's core to everything we do," explains Catherine Drummond, partner at LCP.

Drummond explains that rather than hindering its D&I focus, the pandemic has helped to galvanise it.

"I think the pandemic has actually given us more time to engage with people on D&I issues.

"Remote working has allowed more people to join our knowledge working and discussion events. People may find it easier to take steps into learning about new areas if they can do it remotely."

LCP also explained how wider societal developments, including the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, have contributed to its D&I push.

In the last year the firm hosted an event which saw over 200 employees discuss the issue of white privilege and how all individuals can strengthen black voices and be an active ally. This event led to the six-week long Let's Talk About Race campaign which focused on discussions ranging from racism in the workplace to the wider issue of white supremacy.

"It's important to celebrate success and recognise the importance of things like these awards which really do raise awareness across the industry and help build momentum for everyone to continue to learn and improve," says Drummond.

"As an industry and as individual firms we should be talking about D&I more. We should be measuring it, making it a performance indicator across a wider field of statistics and I think that employees now are demanding firms do more in this space."