Values & Culture

We believe that Lee & Thompson is a truly special and welcoming place to work and at the very heart of the business are our exceptional people.

Fostering real passion

We have a unique culture that fosters real passion for expressing our personalities, respecting and genuinely supporting our colleagues, and delivering excellent results for clients. We want to ensure that our people are given the tools to become the very best that they can be, and we offer the support, encouragement and bespoke training required to fulfil these ambitions.

Above all, we want everyone to take pleasure and pride in all that they do, and we are here to support them every step of the way.

Inclusion & Belonging

Central to the firm’s culture and ethos is our commitment to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace, preventing discrimination and creating an environment where everyone – staff, clients and everyone we work with – can be themselves and can bring their whole selves to work.

Of course, we have all the right policies and procedures in place – but this is about far more than policies. We are committed to continued introspection and review, always seeking to improve and educate ourselves.

Lee & Thompson actively celebrates diversity and belonging within the firm and beyond. We are committed to ensuring that we are inclusive of and accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to work at or with the firm, and we ensure that everyone can bring their true self to work.

Take a look at our latest diversity statistics.

 

Equity, Diversion & Inclusion Committees

We have dedicated committees to drive the firm’s equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) agenda, to rethink initiatives that create silos as well as to educate, challenge and focus our firm.  

Our Inclusion & Belonging Network’s activity is varied and multi-faceted – from raising awareness of inequality and supporting industry-led ED&I initiatives, to overseeing the firm’s own recruitment and wellbeing activity, to hosting events celebrating key dates in the diversity calendar. The Inclusion & Belonging Network is led by Huw Morris, a Partner in our Marketing & Advertising sector group and the Head of our Commercial team.

Our Anti-Racism Taskforce works to question, discuss and challenge ourselves on an ongoing basis, training ourselves on issues such as Unconscious Bias and celebrating the influence of people of colour, particularly in the creative industries which are the focus of Lee & Thompson’s work, for instance celebrating non-white achievements that may often be overlooked, particularly outside of entertainment and in fields of science, business and technology, for example. The Anti-Racism Taskforce is led by Lizzie Payne-James, a Partner in our Music group. 

Some initiatives include:

A dedicated Recruitment Committee to continually assess, review and improve the firm’s recruitment activities, ensuring that access to and opportunity at Lee & Thompson is open and fair.

Our annual Vacation Scheme which offers students from diverse backgrounds the experience of working in a media law firm and to bring in the right people at the start of their careers. We have since offered permanent roles to a number of our Vacation Scheme ‘graduates’.

A dedicated area on our  intranet for ED&I resources, including for LGBTQ History Month, Black History Month, and mental health and wellbeing.

A Diversity & Wellbeing Book Exchange in our office, to share the books we collectively own which explore or recognise diverse heritage, cultures, issues and achievements or wellbeing themes.

Regular evening film nights and lunchtime panel sessions to mark events in the inclusion calendar, as well as our annual Pride celebrations. 

We have hosted annual panel sessions at the firm with a mixture of internal and external speakers, to celebrate International Women’s Day. In 2018, we developed & and hosted The Music Agenda, a series of panel events at L&T addressing gender inequality in the music industry. 

Mental Health & Wellbeing

The wellbeing and mental health of our team is always front of mind at Lee & Thompson. From regular perks and social activities to keep the team engaged and motivated, to Mental Health First Aid training and dedicated Wellbeing Partners, our focus is ensuring that our team feels looked after and always supported, no matter the issue. Like family.

Some initiatives include:

We have run various firm-wide sessions around mental wellbeing and stress management. During lockdown, to promote morale and engagement, we ran “Wellness Wednesday” sessions, involving everything from cookery and art classes to film nights and quizzes.

14 members of staff across all departments, from partners to associates to trainees to business services, completed the Mental Health First Aid England training programme and are now qualified Mental Health First Aiders, trained to offer guidance to the firm and support to our colleagues on mental health and wellbeing issues.

Our firm’s Employee Assistance Programme is designed to support employees’ wellbeing beyond physical health, including life support, work life and emotional health.  We have teamed up with The Fitness Works, a brilliant health and wellbeing organisation, to provide our staff with free fitness, yoga and meditation classes four times per week along with seminars on nutrition and stress management.

Our Industries

We also like to collaborate with our clients and include them in our ED&I initiatives. Recently, our clients have joined us in supporting the following initiatives and events in various ways:

Recent initiatives and events:

Women In Games

Our Games sector group supports and attends the Women in Games’ event programme. 

OUTvertising

Partners Huw Morris and Sam Goodman are Directors of OUTvertising – the LGBTQ+ network for those working in advertising and marketing. We host its quarterly council/advisory board meetings and we hosted the 2023 Strategy Day for its Executive Board. In 2019, we co-hosted the first Cannes Lions OUTvertising networking event for LGBTQ+ and ally colleagues in the advertising industry attending the festival.  

InterLaw 

We support and attend this firm client’s legal industry events aimed for all strands of diversity including its annual Carnival (for gender, race, disability/neurodiversity, LGBTQ+ and social mobility staff affinity networks across the legal industry). 

The Attitude Awards  

Members of our Film, TV and Games and Commercial groups hosted senior clients from across the firm at the Attitude Awards 2022.  

Pride In London

We marched at Pride in London in 2018 with The Law Society and 150 colleagues from across the legal profession, with InterMedia and 120 colleagues from across the media industry in 2019, and with OUTvertising and 60 colleagues across the advertising and marketing industry in 2021 and 2022.

British LGBT Awards 

Our firm has been a proud Supporting Sponsor for three years of the leading UK Awards celebrating LGBTQ+ inclusion. 

 

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