Since joining Clifford Chance in 2001, Ilse has advocated for gender parity within the Amsterdam office and the Global Firm, ensuring that diversity is at the very top of the agenda. From 2020 to 2022, Ilse co-led a project with Harvard’s gender and behavioral science expert, Paola Secchi Dimeglio, to perform an AI data-driven “body scan” of the Amsterdam office appraisal and promotion systems to find nudges to improve the gender balance and enhance retention numbers in the longer term. The research outcome has been used to implement changes in the Amsterdam appraisal and collaboration systems and heavily contributed to increasing the number of women partners from 2 to 5. Under Ilse’s leadership, Clifford Chance Amsterdam launched their chapter of the global gender parity group Accelerate in 2020, and she also organized a high-profile women leadership program for women associates.