Akin Awarded WILEF UK Gold Standard Certification

(London) – Akin is proud to share that the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) has awarded the firm its 2023 U.K. Gold Standard Certification. Although this is the first time that Akin has been awarded the prestigious certification in the U.K., the firm has been awarded the U.S. Gold Standard Certification four times in the past five years.

In order to receive U.K. Gold Standard Certification, firms of 100 or more lawyers in the U.K. must satisfy one mandatory criteria: 20% of equity partners or, alternatively, 33% of the attorneys becoming equity partners during the past 12 months, are women.

Additionally, firms must satisfy other criteria concerning women equity partner compensation, women of color and LGBTQ+ women equity partners and/or women in leadership roles at offices and on committees.

Akin partner and co-chair of the Global Women’s Firmwide Resource Group, Emma Simmonds commented, “We are delighted to have received the UK Gold Standard Certification from WILEF for the first time.  This recognition of our success in retaining, promoting and supporting our female lawyers is due to our robust suite of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and to the hard work of a whole host of lawyers and business services staff in the London office, in particular partner Ezra Zahabi and counsel Hermione Allen who lead our London Women’s Group.”