PROFILE: FARMIDA BI
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// IT’S NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR US TO HAVE EITHER A MONOCULTURE OR A DOMINANT CULTURE – WE HAVE TO HAVE A CULTURE THAT EMBRACES EVERYBODY //
CV
2022–present Global chair, Norton Rose Fulbright
2021–present Chair, Barbican Centre Trust
2018–present EMEA chair, Norton Rose Fulbright
2018–present Chair, Patchwork Foundation
2008–present Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright
2002–2008 Partner, Dentons
1997–2001 Associate, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (London office)
1996–1997 Associate, J.P. Morgan
1992–1996 Associate, Clifford Chance
1990–1992 Trainee, Clifford Chance
1989 Graduates from Downing College with a Master of Laws
colleagues, “who were generally very bright and collegiate,” she says. Although she believes that the legal
industry is generally welcoming to talented people from different backgrounds, she has worked throughout her career to make sure that opportunities at every level are equally available. “It is vital that everyone at Norton
Rose Fulbright – a global firm servicing global clients – believes that they belong. It’s not acceptable for us to have either a monoculture or a dominant culture – we have to have a culture that embraces everybody,” says Farmida. She stresses the importance of not just
ticking boxes on equity and diversity. “In terms of what we can do to widen access, I think it is important to create a culture which is welcoming to everyone and to support people through their whole career and not just at the point of entry.” She believes “measurable targets around different forms of diversity” will enable organisations to “assess progress and be held to account for the results”. Norton Rose Fulbright has
implemented a 40:40:20 gender diversity strategy (40% women, 40% men, 20% flexible). The company’s global executive management team now has a 50/50 gender balance and of the five regional chairs, three are women and four are from minority ethnic backgrounds, she adds. But there is still work to be done,
including in the boardroom, says Farmida, where a lack of diversity leads to “a narrower range of inputs, which is likely to affect decision-making”. But that is “a practical way of looking at it, when really it is fundamentally about treating people fairly”.
Aligning core values Farmida’s desire to make a difference to the world led her to engage with politics at an early age, and she is still passionate about encouraging people to become more involved. She stood as a Labour Party candidate in the 2005 general election, having joined the party while at school in the mid-1980s during the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher. Contesting the Conservative safe
seat of Mole Valley (district in southeast England), she polled just over 5,000 votes, coming third behind the Liberal Democrat candidate. She may not have won but felt privileged to have had the experience of talking to people while campaigning with her baby son at the weekends for
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18 months, hearing about the challenges they were facing and what they expected the government to do to help them. “I would urge everyone to get involved in democracy in action – it’s easy to stand on the side-lines and criticise politicians for their failings, but more of us need to participate.” She also puts these ideals into practice
as chair of the Patchwork Foundation, a non-partisan charity encouraging young people from disadvantaged and minority ethnic backgrounds to become politically engaged through work experience in Parliament, and masterclasses with leading figures from politics, business, and the media. ‘Get Involved’ is the catchphrase used by Patchwork. Farmida’s involvement isn’t limited to
politics – as someone who has always loved the arts, she is also chair of the Barbican Centre Trust, which supports the Barbican, Europe’s biggest multi-arts centre.
Ethical finance In her professional life, she looks at the intersection between ethics, faith, and business, and has been involved in ethical finance through Islamic financial transactions which, she explains, operate on the basis of neither charging interest nor “oppressing the counterparties”, and have as an underlying principle the use of “finance for a social good”. Her interest in ethical finance has also
led her to focus on the role Islamic finance can play in unlocking funding for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, as the two are “naturally aligned”, she says. “I have always been intrigued by the fact that the concept of trust law came to Britain from the Middle East, where the Crusaders discovered the Waqf funds [sustainable, ongoing charitable endowments] that supported public hospitals and schools,” she says. She stresses the positive, active role
money should play in improving society, with the most significant development in Islamic ESG being the substantial increase in green sukuk – the increasingly popular Shariah-compliant, fixed-income capital markets instruments – which mirrors the increase in the green bond market, used primarily for funding renewable energy projects. Farmida says: “The huge growth in the
ESG market, especially in the past five years, has completely dwarfed the Islamic finance market and I believe there is a
THE REVIEW SEPTEMBER 2022
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