Pinsent Masons is celebrating International Men’s Day for the first time this year. 

The firm will mark the occasion with a conference next week for 50 male year 10 and 11 students from its partner schools, who are statistically less likely to achieve their potential at school than their female peers.

The firm’s family support network has also run an event focused on raising boys.

Pinsent Masons’ head of responsible business Kate Fergusson told The Lawyer: We ran a successful event for International Women’s Day but we wanted to do something to make it clear gender diversity isn’t just about levelling the playing field for women, it’s also about how we can engage men.”

“We need men to be engaged if we are going to make a difference, we need to raise boys who will champion their siblings, friends and peers regardless of gender, and who will ultimately ensure that law firms of the future don’t need to set targets for female partners.”

“International Men’s Day is an opportunity to focus on some of the reasons why an inclusive workplace benefits men, and it’s not just because they have daughters as we are sometimes led to believe.”

Celebration of International Men’s Day began in 1992 and is described as “an opportunity for people everywhere of goodwill to appreciate and celebrate the men in their lives and the contribution they make to society for the greater good of all.”

A key theme of the day year was improving men’s health. It is estimated that suicide affects three times more men than women in the UK each year.

Earlier in 2017 Pinsent Masons acquired diversity and inclusion consulting company Brook Graham in an attempt to “turbocharge” its diversity strategy. The firm also passed its goal of having a 25 per cent female partnership a year ahead of schedule.

Gender diversity: beyond tick-box initiatives