Law Society updates guidance on greetings to avoid gender-specific terms in legal correspondence

The updated ‘D&Ictionary’, published on 3 October, notes that the greeting is “no longer accurate, representative or appropriate in today's diverse society, where we want to account for and represent the broad scope of recipients including women and individuals with other gender identities including non-binary".

It therefore sets out recommended alternatives, including: “Dear colleagues”, “Dear counsel” or “To whom it may concern”.

The guidance also covers topics including implicit and explicit bias, cognitive bias, disabled people or people with disabilities, social mobility, pronouns, and capitalising 'Black' when discussing race and ethnicity.

On the latter, the guidance states: “Technically when writing a colour, it’s grammatically correct to use the lower case to spell it out when it’s mid-sentence.

“However, when referring to the Black race, using a capital letter moves the use of the word from describing a colour to describing the identity of a person or group of people.

“[…] By using a lowercase ‘b’, some argue that it robs people who identify as Black a certain dignity that is afforded to other races.”

Turning to the subject of pronouns, the Law Society warns that judging by name or appearance is “not always an accurate method” for determining a person’s pronouns.

The guidance states: “To prevent these assumptions, it’s good practice for us to normalise sharing our pronouns. There are a number of ways we can do this.

“Adding your pronouns to your email signature, name badge or LinkedIn profile are simple ways to let people know how to correctly address you.

“When you introduce yourself to a new client or colleague, you could offer your pronouns or begin the dialogue by asking theirs.

“If someone has indicated their pronouns to you, show respect and take care to use them correctly.”

The Law Society said it would continue to update the guidance, and welcomed suggestions for words, terms or phrases to discuss.

Lottie Winson