Diversity & Inclusion in our Workforce

Bär & Karrer offers an in-house childcare facility where our employees benefit from favourable conditions to support balancing family and career. Furthermore, Bär & Karrer is a member of profawo whose consultancy on topics such as guidance for young parents, childcare or placement of nannies is free of charge for staff members.

We are granting paid paternity leave of a total of 15 working days. Expectant mothers are entitled to go on leave four weeks prior to the calculated date of childbirth. The purpose of this leave is to ease the burden during the last month of pregnancy. We would like our female employees to remain employed with us after childbirth. Employees who worked for Bär & Karrer for at least two years prior to childbirth and who undertake to continue to work for us after their maternity leave for at least another two years are entitled to additional benefits beyond the statutory minimum.

The compatibility of work and family requires flexible working time models. This way we can ensure that women and also men can reconcile their legal profession with parenthood in the long term. However, working part-time does not mean that your career ends up on the sidelines and therefore isn't an obstacle to being promoted. Home office is another important component of working time flexibilization at Bär & Karrer and gives our employees more flexibility in organizing their day.

Launched in 2009 as a women's network, it initially included meetings and lunches for female lawyers at different stages of their career at Bär & Karrer to network, provide career advice and obtain feedback. Today, the network is open to everyone at Bär & Karrer and has shifted its focus to diversity and inclusion in the broader sense.

Bär & Karrer is a member of "Advance – Gender Equality in Business", an association of close to 100 Swiss-based companies with the mission to achieve a balanced gender mix at all levels of an organization on an ongoing basis.

The goal of our Female Leadership Program is to offer high-performing women with the potential to take on the role of partner targeted support in various aspects, such as recognizing and eliminating doubts, uncertainties and personally perceived hurdles, addressing personal aspirations as well as the necessary requirements for the next career step. We want to uncover, activate and use their own resources and strengths. It is about accompanying personality and career development as well as supporting the processing of concrete concerns. We carry out these measures in cooperation with psychologists and coaches and work with diagnostics, executive coachings and workshops.

Bär & Karrer won "Gender Diversity: International Firm of the Year" and "Switzerland Firm of the Year" at the Women in Business Law Awards 2022 EMEA.

Bär & Karrer has been supporting Room to Read for many years. They seek to transform the lives of millions of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, the foundation aids in developing literacy skills and in implementing the habit of reading among primary school children, and supports girls to complete secondary school to learn skills that are essential to succeed in further education and life. With our support we hope to contribute to better education for children, and for girls in particular.

The Jerusalem Foundation aims to bring the diverse population of the city of Jerusalem closer together through various projects mainly in the education and culture sector, also with a strong focus of enhancing career opportunities for girls and women through school and university education but also by supporting the integration on the labor market for young professionals and older women. One of our female partners is a member of the Swiss regional board of the Jerusalem Foundation.

One of our female partners and member of our executive committee serves on the Board of Menschen für Menschen Switzerland, a foundation that amongst others runs vocational trainings for women in Ethiopia, giving them the opportunity to make a living for themselves.

The Weizmann Institute scientists have developed new ways of fighting disease and hunger, protecting the environment and harnessing alternative energy solutions. One of our partners serves on the Weizmann Institute’s Executive Board and as Chair of the Swiss Society of Friends of the Institute. He has also played a prominent role in raising support for the Swiss Society Institute for Cancer Prevention Research at the Moross Integrated Cancer Center.