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Freshfields’ Georgia Dawson and Raquel Flórez recognised for commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusivity
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s (‘Freshfields’) senior partner Georgia Dawson and partner Raquel Flórez have been recognised in the OUTstanding Ally Executives Role Model List 2022.
The list celebrates individuals for being a vocal ally, actively working to create an environment where LGBTQ+ colleagues can comfortably bring their best professional selves to work.
Dawson, named on the Role Model List for a fifth consecutive year, has continued to advocate for underrepresented groups, ensuring LGBTQ+ inclusion is firmly embedded in Freshfields’ D&I strategy. This includes introducing a global LGBTQ+ target as part of the firms’ five-year D&I commitments launched last year.
Raquel Flórez, Freshfields’ head of people and reward in Spain and co-head of the Latin American group, has been named on the Role Model List for the first time. Flórez is a member of the D&I Committee in the Madrid office, the Firms’ LGBTQ+ allyship network Halo Champions and a founding member of REDI - a corporate LGBTQ+ network in Spain.
Dawson said: “It gives me immense pride to see Freshfields named twice in this year’s Role Model List, alongside a group of inspiring individuals who are pushing boundaries and driving change. This recognition reflects the promise of the firm to make D&I a strategic priority. I’m pleased with the progress shown in our annual review towards meeting the ambitious targets we’ve set for our firm.”
Flórez commented: "It’s an honour to be involved in such important D&I initiatives, inside and outside the firm. I do what I do because I think it’s the right thing. In today’s world it’s more and more important to be vocal and visible in our defence of human rights, and it’s rewarding to be recognised for that. We have a special responsibility to be role models. As a global firm, we can have outsized impact with our clients, suppliers and other companies that we work with around the world. We all need to be activists."
Last year, the firm committed to several ambitious diversity and inclusion targets over a five-year period, including a global target for LGBTQ+ representation, to help drive progress and accelerate the pace of change at the firm. Since that commitment, Freshfields’ representation of LGBTQ+ partners now stands at four percent - closing in on our 2026 target of at least five percent.
Since its launch, Freshfields’ LGBTQ+ employee and allies’ networks, Halo and Halo Champions, have gone from strength to strength - now representing two of the firm’s largest employee networks with more than 500 members globally. For the second consecutive year, the firm has voluntarily included data on its sexual orientation pay gap in its UK pay gap report, as part of our broader ongoing commitment to increase transparency and improve D&I across the board.
All 2022 Ally Executive Role Models were nominated by peers and colleagues. Nominations were then reviewed by OUTstanding’s panel of judges comprising senior international business leaders.
