News

Bates Wells honoured as a ‘Best for the World” B Corp, 2021

Bates Wells has been announced as a 2021 “Best for the World” B Corp, in the category of governance. The award means we’re ranked in the top 5% of all B Corps worldwide in terms of our governance and is recognition of the positive impact we make on our people, society and environment. To become …
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Bates Wells celebrates Disability History Month 2021

This year we marked Disability History Month with a panel discussion focused on one of 2021’s themes, Disability and Hidden Impairment. An award-winning author on the topic joined our internal panellists who discussed their own experiences as well as how we better develop a workplace culture that supports people living with invisible disability or chronic …
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Rachel Mathieson wins Rising Star of the Year at the British Legal Awards 2021 for her role in the Uber litigation

Rachel is a Senior Associate in Bates Wells’ Employment team who qualified in 2014. Alongside Employment Partner Paul Jennings, Rachel successfully represented the two test Claimants taking on Uber in the Supreme Court, in a landmark case concerning the employment rights of an estimated 45,000 drivers across London. The case will have enormous implications for …
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Bates Wells contributes to Policy & Practice for Purposeful Business, an ambitious report by the British Academy

The British Academy Future of the Corporation programme builds on four years of research and insight from leading thinkers to answer big questions on the role of business in society. These new findings, described by the Financial Times as “one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to reform capitalism for the 21st century”, conclude four …
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Bates Wells rewrites fellow B Corp Planit IE’s articles of association and employment contracts to better reflect its values

Planit IE is a design practice that pioneers sustainability and puts the long-term health of the environment and communities it works with at the heart of everything it does. Earlier this year, we rewrote their articles of association and employment contracts to better reflect their B Corp values. Our first step was to gain a …
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Mandatory vaccinations in care homes – 5 key steps

How your organisation can best prepare for the new regulations, which are expected to be extended to workers in the wider health and social care sector From 11 November 2021, anyone entering a registered care home in England will have to be double vaccinated. The DHSC’s operational guidance clarifies that, in addition to care home …
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Urgent legal reform is needed to help high-risk groups leave Afghanistan

We believe an urgent intervention is needed to help groups that are at high risk of persecution by the Taliban escape Afghanistan – including human rights activists, lawyers, and academics. We also want the government to offer support and assurances to NGOs working to help their people on the ground in Afghanistan. Chetal Patel, immigration …
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Bates Wells wins Litigation Team of the Year and Pro Bono Initiative of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2021

We are absolutely delighted to have won two awards at the hugely competitive Lawyer Awards 2021. Our first award was for Litigation Team of the Year and is testament to the work the team has done to secure various groundbreaking judgements over the last year. The Lawyer commented on one such groundbreaking judgement – the …
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Chetal Patel reviews the new UK elite visa in Personnel Today

The elite visa will help to “attract and retain the most highly skilled, globally mobile talent” in science and technology. Chetal Patel, immigration specialist and partner, told Personnel Today: “This will be welcome news to tech businesses many of which were concerned about bringing talent from overseas following Brexit and coronavirus”. Although “the focus on …
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Bates Wells and the Law Society release new report and toolkit on women in law

The report shows there is still much further to go to achieve gender equality for women lawyers globally.   A new report, co-authored by Bates Wells and released to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021, sets out to provide practical tools to support women lawyers from around the world in setting up or …
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Bates Wells publishes Gender Pay Report 2020

We are pleased to share our Gender Pay Report 2020, which provides an analysis of our gender pay data and sets out our key projects to further reduce the gender pay gap. Our values are pivotal to us, they shape our decisions and the way we live and work. We focus on making a positive …
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Bates Wells Joins The Good Business Charter

We’re delighted to announce that, after working with philanthropist and businessman Julian Richer to set up the Good Business Charter (GBC), we have now achieved accreditation ourselves. The Good Business Charter (GBC) is an accreditation that seeks to raise the bar on business practices for employees, tax, the environment, customers and suppliers. Bates Wells has …
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