Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is launching a scholarship with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust (SLCT) to help students from black and ethnic minorities gain access to the profession.
The scholarship will allow four successful male candidates committed to pursuing a career in the legal profession to receive a £3,500 annual contribution towards living expenses, as well as training, mentoring, work experience at Freshfields and a guaranteed interview for a training contract.
Freshfields senior partner Will Lawes said: ‘The legal profession still needs to do more to encourage wider access. The purpose of this scholarship is to provide black and ethnic minority students from less privileged backgrounds with a genuine opportunity of building a successful career in the law and is a further demonstration of our commitment to making social mobility a reality.’
The first scholars will be selected in the summer this year. Eligible candidates will meet one of several criteria, such as being entitled to free school meals, having received a maintenance grant from a UK body or being in the first generation to attend university in the candidate’s family.
SLCT co-founder Doreen Lawrence, the mother of teenager Stephen Lawrence whose murder in 1993 galvanised the anti-racism campaign in the UK, said: ‘By providing gifted young people at the beginning of their career with a scholarship, we will establish lasting relationships that will mean there is a rich talent pool of candidates for top positions in the long term.’ Freshfields formed its relationship with the SLCT in 2012.
The move is the latest in a string of law firm diversity initiatives in recent years, with the launch of the pan-industry group PRIME in September 2011 doing much to put the issue on the agenda of law firm leaders.