Top 50 female graduate-friendly firms

Female graduates can now search the best companies to work for using a list published by The Times.

Top for graduate jobs in the legal sector included new entrants Herbert Smith, which made a first appearance in three-year-old system.

Reappearing for the second year in the best places for female graduates in the legal list, were Clifford Chance at and Eversheds, reported Legal Week.

Addleshaws has featured in the list in all three years it has been operating with schemes including support for pregnant lawyers and parents.

Clifford Chance introduced support for parents going off to have children and coming back into work.

Diversity manager at the company Sarah Twite said: "To be competitive we need to attract and retain the best people, so the work we are doing here is simply good business."

While Evershed has improved staff services for women who are making up a larger percentage of senior positions - at 30 per cent.

The Royal Mail group, the Royal Bank of Scotland, BT, HSBC and McDonalds were some of the biggest employers in the list.