Lawyers have dominated a list of the world's most LGBT-friendly employers.

Six out of the 13 businesses selected as 'Top Global Employers' by Stonewall were law firms. Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Dentons, Herbert Smith Freehills (which also sponsored the event), Pinsent Masons and Simmons & Simmons all made the unranked list compiled by the the lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality charity. The rest of the working world had to settle for seven slots, which were filled by Accenture, Barclays, BP, RBS, SAP, Vodafone and Zurich Insurance.

The firms also appeared on Stonewall's top 100 UK employers chart, except for Simmons & Simmons. RollOnFriday asked Simmons if this was because it was more impressively inclusive in Dubai than in London, but a spokeswoman said "we decided to focus on the global element as opposed to UK only". She said the firm "was ranked for UK many years ago", but "we were then elevated to ‘star performer’ which goes beyond the ranking", at least until this year when the star performer category was, she said, paused.

A lawyer, yesterday.

Stonewall said its global winners were selected on the basis of submissions identifying how they had created "inclusive global workspaces" across their offices around the world. Emma Scott, Stonewall's Director of Global Partnerships, told RollOnFriday, "It’s great to see so many law firms demonstrating a real commitment to ensuring that all their lesbian, gay, bi and trans staff and stakeholders feel included at work".  Asked why law firms dominated, she said, "They are at the forefront of driving global LGBT inclusion in the workplace. This does not mean they are doing this perfectly everywhere – no one is, at this point in time".