Transgender champion promotes workplace inclusion within banking and legal professions

Transgender role model Justine Smithies will give a presentation tomorrow to Scotland’s banking and legal professionals at an event promoting diversity in the workplace.

Clydesdale Bank and legal firm Pinsent Masons are jointly hosting the event in Glasgow as part of an ongoing initiative to encourage a greater understanding of trans inclusion in the workplace.

Justine Smithies is transgender from Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire and is a marine electronics engineer who works in the fishing industry.

She has raised thousands of pounds for gender and sexual equality charity Stonewall Scotland and has launched an LGBT group called Just Be Yourself.

Craig Macphee, senior associate at Pinsent Masons, said: “Justine is a prominent speaker on transgender issues and we are looking forward to an illuminating talk on how businesses can better understand and support transgender colleagues and also to collaborating with one of our key clients.

“This is an excellent opportunity for people in customer facing roles, people leaders, clients and intermediaries of Clydesdale Bank and Pinsent Masons to hear Justine’s personal story.”

Paul Skovron, Chair, Clydesdale Bank’s LGBTI network Vibrant, said: “We are delighted to be hosting this event with our partner Pinsent Masons. Having Justine present on this topic demonstrates how we are able to promote diversity in an inclusive environment and engage in important conversations regarding transgender.”

Pinsent Masons is the only legal firm in Scotland to rank in Stonewall’s Top 50 employers for commitment to workplace diversity and was placed in the top five of the most inclusive UK employers in the 2016 Stonewall Scotland Workplace Equality Index.