In 2019 the InterLaw Diversity Forum signed an MOU with the American Bar Association (“ABA”) to adapt the ABA’s US Model Diversity Survey ("ABA MDS") for use in the United Kingdom. The ABA MDS is now in its seventh year with over 150 Client Signatories and nearly 500 Law Firm Participants in the United States. In 2020 we solidified this arrangement with the ABA by signing a further “Collaboration Agreement”. Our UK adaptation is entitled the InterLaw Diversity Forum UK Model Diversity Survey ("UK MDS").
The UK Model Diversity Survey (“UK MDS”) is used by corporate and financial institutions (“Signatories”) to collect diversity data from their panel law firms / legal services providers, in addition to gathering relevant insights on firm policy and governance. The purpose of the survey is to serve as the standard for law firms’ reporting of their diversity metrics. The benefits the survey has are data uniformity, time efficiency, and trending year over year in aggregate and for individual firms.
The UK MDS currently has 42 Client Signatories from a wide range of corporates and financial institutions and 36 Law Firm Participants from a broad range of firms based on size and geography.
Now starting our fifth data collection cycle, the UK MDS is based on the 2021 version of the America Bar Association's Model Diversity Survey ("ABA MDS") in the United States. We will continue our collaboration with the ABA and future iterations of both surveys will continue to mirror each other as much as possible and will cross-pollinate as we share improvements back and forth. We work with the same service provider to run the online system, the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), a not-for-profit testing organisation in the US, whose generous support has made the system development possible.
The UK MDS and the ABA MDS run as two parallel but totally separate and independent systems but have nearly identical user interfaces and functionality. These two systems can easily be used in conjunction with each other to give you the full picture of the compositions and cultures of your US and UK firms.
As part of our adaptation for the UK market, we consulted with the SRA to ensure all our diversity categories and definitions fully align with what the SRA required law firms to collect starting in Summer 2021.
We received GDPR advice for the UK MDS from Reed Smith with support from Paul Hastings and have produced a Data Protection Impact Assessment ("DPIA”).
Our data experts, as well as data experts from several of the UK MDS Signatories, have determined that there are no GDPR issues with the UK MDS.
As part of the development of the UK MDS, we assembled a working group of general counsel, senior in-house lawyers, D&I experts, and law firm representatives to consult on the project. We consulted and coordinated with the SRA to ensure our diversity and social mobility categories are the same as those the SRA required law firms to collect on in Summer 2021 and again in 2023. We are working with the same supplier as the ABA, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), who developed the infrastructure and systems needed to launch the UK version.
About the Dashboards
The UK MDS can help clients to engage in more meaningful dialogue on access to opportunity and firm culture with their law firms/legal suppliers by creating greater transparency around diversity, inclusion, and culture in law firms.
GCs and their legal teams can easily drill down into the data in the UK MDS Dashboards which display firm data from headcount, to hiring, promotion, attrition, firm leadership, and top and bottom earners.
UK MDS Signatories can make like-for-like comparisons between their panel law firms/legal service providers, and can compare data over time to measure their panel firms’ progress.
The UK Model Diversity Survey can assist law firms in providing uniform, thorough, and accurate information to their corporate and financial institution clients. Further, it will streamline D&I data collection for law firms by allowing firms to provide a single, uniform set of data to multiple clients. The more firm clients who use the UK MDS, the greater the cost and time savings for the firm.
Current Status of the Project
The 2024 data collection cycle is now open and will close on 14 April 2025.
We welcome new Signatories to join at anytime.
If your organanisation would like to participate – either as a Signatory or a Law Firm Participant – please contact: Jonathan.Leonhart@interlawdiversityforum.org
Why participate in the UK Model Diversity Survey?
For in-house legal teams
The UK Model Diversity Survey ("UK MDS") has been designed to save time and reduce risk. In addition to receiving rich insights into hiring, promotion, retention, and partner compensation through a diversity lens, clients benefit from benchmarking data, independent analysis, tailored panel-review questions, and an assessment of the progress on diversity at their panel firms over time.
For in-house teams who previously managed their own diversity data collection exercise, the UK MDS removes the requirement to collect and store diversity data: clients access data through the UK MDS platform, and receive a tailored summary for each participating panel law firm. In other words, we do the analysis, so you don't have to.
More than simply providing data
While in theory firms can provide the data collected by the UK MDS independently, this does not mean that clients receive equivalent insights. What makes the UK MDS unique is the independent analysis we produce for each participating firm. Our analysis doesn't just draw on the data provided by individual firms, but it considers the context of the wider market to identify areas of strength, and opportunities for improvement. Who is ahead of the pack? Which firms are bucking the trends? Our summary reports provide clients and firms with insights they simply can't get anywhere else. By participating in the UK MDS, firms are also helping us to build a stronger picture of sector-wide talent trends, which are already revealing some unexpected insights.
For law firms
The UK MDS has been designed to save time and to encourage collaboration with clients. As client demand for diversity data continues to increase, our aim is for the UK MDS to become the industry standard diversity reporting tool, reducing the volume of individual diversity data requests. UK MDS resources have been designed to celebrate firm diversity strengths and to open up a dialogue between firms and clients around shared opportunities for development.
The UK MDS resources provide the foundation for deeper discussions on diversity between clients and their relationship partners. And there's more! Several law firms now use the UK MDS as an internal reporting tool.
