PRISM - Pride at Slaughter and May

The PRISM network aims to foster a positive working environment for LGBTQ+ colleagues within the firm and to support members of our LGBTQ+ community in being their authentic selves. We collaborate with our other internal networks to host events and sessions that facilitate intersectional dialogues such as our talk with Educating Matters, co-hosted with our Family Network, which discussed talking about gender and sexuality with our families.

The network meets regularly to discuss ongoing initiatives and organise social events at various locations in the City, to which everyone at the firm is invited. We also seek to cultivate links with the firm’s clients and prospective clients and their LGBTQ+ networks. We work closely with colleagues at our Best Friends firms, and are also involved in graduate recruitment and student mentoring initiatives.

PRISM has helped the firm to achieve a ranking of 16th in the 2024 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and our people have appeared in the OUTstanding LGBTQ+ Executives, Future Leaders, and Ally Leaders lists. We are committed to making further progress as a diverse and inclusive workplace.

For further information or any queries, please contact us.

Pride 

2023 highlights

As part of the PRISM network conversations to raise awareness about non-binary and trans experiences we heard from drag queen and artist Tommy Hibbitts AKA Bimini Bon-Boulash for Pride Month who talked about their lived experiences. We also had an insightful session on trans inclusion with Galop, a charity dedicated to LGBTQ+ people who are victims of abuse.

Tommy gave us a fascinating insight into their career, their lived experience as a non-binary person, and reminded us all of the importance of allyship to the non-binary community. Claire Cooke, Partner

2022 highlights

To celebrate Pride Month 2022, PRISM put together the following video to share what Pride means to our LGBTQ+ colleagues and allies and their thoughts and reflections on 50 years of Pride in London. Pride commemorates the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 1969, which acted as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Pride continuously serves as an opportunity to emphasise that the fight against discrimination is our collective, ongoing responsibility in the push for equality in the UK and throughout the world.

2021 highlights

Life at the Intersection

PRISM and Vodafone’s LGBTQ+ Friends Network jointly hosted a virtual panel discussion, chaired by Emma Smith from Vodafone, about what it is like to live at the intersection of being an LGBTQ+ person and other important identities, including race, gender, and faith.

The event, the first in PRISM’s Life at the Intersection series, was supported by Slaughter and May’s Muslim Network and Jewish network, J-Net. The panel was made up of Nour Shaker Fayad, Dalia Fleming (from KeshetUK), and a representative from Hidayah, with remarks from Nilufer von Bismarck (retired partner) and Ewan Brown (partner). Over 285 people from across Slaughter and May and Vodafone tuned in to listen to the panellists share their stories and experiences of living at the intersection of different, often marginalised, identities.

The importance of events such as this, and the work of organisations such as KeshetUK and Hidayah, was captured by our panellist from Hidayah, who said:

I really struggled growing up because I didn’t see anyone similar to myself, so having someone who has had a similar lived experience is validating. Having that safe space where I can talk openly about my sexuality and my faith is important to me. That’s what Hidayah does; we are an adopted family. I’m not out to my own family, but I know that I have another family that will not judge me and who love me unconditionally. Panellist from Hidayah