At Van Doorne, we believe that change is driven by people – and that our people make the difference.

Our Vision

Our people are our greatest asset. We aim to create an open and inclusive workplace culture where everyone feels welcome and valued. This makes us an attractive employer and helps us attract talented colleagues who align with our values and ambition.

Where We Stand Now

The legal and notarial professions have traditionally lacked diversity. This means deliberate efforts are needed to bring about change. We’ve started taking concrete steps in line with our DEI strategy. We have appointed a DEI Lead and formed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, made up of 10 members who work structurally on this topic. We also collaborate closely with partner organisations such as Stichting Forward, Stichting Bridges Network, Stichting Lequal and the SER.

Our Focus

We focus particularly on two target groups:

• Women: Our goal is 50% women in the partnership and top levels of the organisation by 2035. Currently, this stands at 35%.

• Bicultural colleagues: Although more bicultural talent is entering the firm at junior level, they remain underrepresented in senior positions. That’s why we’re focusing on both internal progression and lateral hiring.

This doesn’t mean other groups are less important — quite the opposite. We continue to focus on all forms of diversity, including LGBTQIA+ colleagues, older employees, neurodiverse individuals, young parents and people with disabilities.

How We Promote Equity

We believe that everyone is different — and that these differences are valuable. To ensure they don’t lead to inequality, we have designed our processes to be objective and to take into account a broad range of evaluation criteria (both hard and soft skills). We also offer facilities that reflect different life stages and identities, such as:

• For young parents: lactation rooms, birth leave, parental leave, childcare service

• For transgender individuals: transition leave, pronouns in email signatures

• For religious employees: prayer room, ability to swap public holidays

Our Strategy

To achieve our goals, we focus on three key pillars:

Improving processes, procedures and the working environment

• Objective recruitment and selection
• Evaluation criteria that include soft skills
• Additional policies such as 100% paid birth leave and transition leave

Education and Training

• Workshops on topics such as microaggressions and creating a safe work environment
• Leadership training focused on soft skills and team development

Inspiring and Connecting

• Office events such as an iftar during Ramadan and a Pride Pub Quiz
• Acknowledging holidays and milestones in both internal and external communication

How We Measure Our Impact

We track our progress in various ways:

• Employee satisfaction survey: annual research into inclusion and culture

• Gender balance report: annual evaluation of gender balance within the organisation and identifying areas for improvement

• Employee interviews: identifying challenges and barriers to inform policy development and support growth

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why is Van Doorne investing in DEI?
People can only truly thrive when they feel at home.

What are the biggest challenges?
The image of being a traditional Zuidas law firm and the historically homogeneous makeup of the legal sector mean that diversity isn’t a given. It requires persistence and a conscious effort to build change.

How do you create an inclusive culture?
By training leaders and team members in soft skills such as coaching and giving feedback – and assessing them on those skills. We also broaden our social activities to expand horizons and ensure everyone feels represented in what we offer.

Our Ambition

We are building an inclusive work environment step by step, where everyone can be themselves and thrive. We do this not only for ourselves, but also to contribute positively to our sector and society.

Questions or want to know more about our approach?

Contact our DEI Lead, Sharon Hesp.