Following Slaughter and May’s July announcement that it would be setting ambitious social mobility targets for 2033, Holly McKechnie spoke to Magic Circle peers to see how they are each approaching the issue
Slaughter and May has pledged to increase its representation of individuals with a lower socioeconomic background (LSEB) by 25% across its total workforce population from a baseline of 19% by 2033. This includes a target to increase its lawyer population from a LSEB to 15% from a baseline of 10% and its business services population to 40% from a baseline of 35%. The metric used by Slaughters to determine an individual’s socioeconomic background is parental occupation at the age of 14.
The firm has implemented an action plan that places a particular emphasis on widening access throughout its early-stage recruitment processes. Split into three strands, the action plan will see Slaughters aim to increase the number of LSEB individuals it hires through graduate and business services recruitment. It plans to achieve this through targeted recruitment activity aimed at engaging students who might not participate in its traditional recruitment processes, as well as providing apprenticeships as an alternative route into the firm. In a bid to widen access to the profession, Slaughters will, over the next five years, extend its scholarship scheme and introduce a new financial bursary scheme for 17-18-year-olds. It will also increase its efforts on collecting workforce data relating to social mobility, with the ambition of achieving a disclosure rate of 90% across its workforce. Additionally, it will voluntarily publish social mobility related pay gaps through its annual pay gap reporting.
At Freshfields, the firm reported its socioeconomic background pay gap data for the first time in its 2022 UK pay gap report, published in March. Again, measuring socioeconomic background by parental occupation at the age of 14, the firm found that it had a difference in mean hourly rate of pay of 31% between LSEB individuals versus those with a professional background, and a difference in median hourly rate of pay of 45% between LSEB individuals and those with a professional background.
When asked about social mobility targets, the firm said: ‘We continuously review our efforts to enhance our commitments to social mobility as a business, and across the industry, and this has long been a strategic priority. Career success should not be restricted by a person’s background. Over time we have come to better understand how we can make a real difference and in many cases this has come about by listening carefully to the amazing examples provided to us by our own people, and from collaborations with external organisations and clients who share our goals.
‘This has allowed us to direct Freshfields’ strategy going forward. Through various inclusion efforts and training programmes in place across the firm, combined with focus from management and other internal leaders, we want to continue driving positive change in our organisation and influence across the legal profession.’
‘It is critical to embed a culture where people from all backgrounds feel they belong and can build meaningful long-term careers.’
Helen Ouseley, Freshfields
For the past 11 years the firm has run its Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme, which has awarded 124 scholarships. The scheme aims to address the under-representation of black men from less socially mobile backgrounds at large commercial law firms and other City institutions. Other initiatives run by the firm include its Aspiring Professionals Programme, which gives 100 students from lower socioeconomic and diverse backgrounds the opportunity to gain an insight into a City legal career each year. The firm also offers a Freshfields Virtual Learning Experience, an open-access programme that allows aspiring solicitors to build their knowledge of the legal profession through scenario-based training. In June, Freshfields gave its support to City Century, the City of London Law Society’s solicitor apprenticeship initiative, which will help the firm attract and develop solicitor apprentices. Additionally, the firm has a Social Mobility Network in the UK that hosts events and provides strategic insights.
Discussing the biggest challenges for social mobility at the elite end of the legal sector, Helen Ouseley, global head of diversity, inclusion and wellbeing at the firm, said: ‘It is critical to embed a culture where people from all backgrounds feel they belong and can build meaningful long-term careers. Firms should engage with young people through new and creative ways to highlight how the legal industry is an accessible and worthwhile profession. It should speak to the next generation through channels that are familiar to them, through greater use of technology, social media and virtual programmes.’
She added: ‘Freshfields is moving the dial in this area via our own initiatives, such as our open access virtual experience and Aspiring Professionals Programme, which is helping us to reach social mobility cold spots. We know that even more needs to be done and we will continue to drive progress in this area.’
Annette Byron, social mobility partner and founder of the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme, added: ‘The aftermath of the pandemic was one issue faced by those from less socially mobile backgrounds being able to access opportunities and feel empowered to build their careers in the legal sector. It was therefore imperative for us to reimagine how we connect with young people to tackle this challenge.’
Meanwhile, Clifford Chance (CC) has confirmed that it does not currently plan to introduce socioeconomic targets. Tiernan Brady, the firm’s global director of inclusion said: ‘Clifford Chance has a range of inclusion targets that are both global and regional on gender, ethnicity and LGBT+ status. We continue to review all our data on recruitment, retention and promotion rates across the firm to see if and where new targets are required, or existing targets have been met and can be withdrawn. We currently do not have a plan to introduce socioeconomic targets in the firm.’
According to its UK Diversity Statistics 2022 report, 37% of CC’s partners attended a state school, 44% attended an independent/ fee-paying school and 16% were educated overseas. At partner level 57% of its workforce had at least one parent or guardian who had a degree level qualification, 29% had parents with a qualification below degree level and 10% had parents or guardians with no formal qualifications.
The firm has several initiatives in place to improve social mobility. These include ACCESS, its two-year development programme for year-12 students, aimed at filling any skills or knowledge gaps potentially experienced by LSEB students. The programme also aims to give students the opportunity to build a network of peers and role models from the firm. Participation in the programme also has the potential to lead to a training contract offer.
At Linklaters, the firm has a raft of social mobility initiatives and has made a concerted effort to ensure accountability at leadership level.
CC has also invested in its global virtual internships to democratise access to the profession, in an industry where work experience is often essential but an economic burden for students. Further, the firm has introduced a Flagship Event Series, which allows students or graduates to visit the firm to attend an event and listen to CC lawyers and network. Attendees do not need to make an application to attend and receive financial support for travel expenses. The lectures are also available online to again improve access for those who cannot easily reach London.
Allen & Overy (A&O) is also not taking a target-based approach to tackling stagnating social mobility in the legal profession. Instead, it uses a hiring framework that looks to identify attributes of the lawyer of the future rather than focusing on fit. It monitors its progress by collecting data on its socioeconomic makeup, which is published in a publicly available social mobility pay gap report. From its 2022 report, it had a 16% mean UK partner and employee social mobility earnings gap between those with a professional socioeconomic background and those with a working-class background and a median gap of 40%.
Last year, A&O was joined by its first solicitor-apprentice cohort, made up of six apprentices. The scheme provides an alternative route to legal qualification for students who, for a variety of reasons, including financial constraints, do not wish or are unable to go down the traditional university route. The firm also has a social mobility network that sits alongside its partner-led working group to provide employees with a forum to share experiences and discuss issues relating to social mobility.
At Linklaters, the firm has a raft of social mobility initiatives and has made a concerted effort to ensure accountability at leadership level. It has appointed four global executive champions for social mobility, who are members of the firm’s executive committee and partnership board. The global head of corporate division, Simon Branigan, represents the UK; regional managing partner William Liu represents Asia; German senior partner Kurt Dittrich represents Germany; and regional managing partner Nuno Ferreira Lousa oversees the rest of Europe. The firm also introduced billable credit in November 2022 for contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion with the ambition of encouraging fee-earners to take a more active part in DEI initiatives, including social mobility.
The firm has a social mobility network for its lawyers and a reverse mentoring programme, which has seen around 100 senior leaders participate since it began. In September 2023, the firm will start its Solicitor Apprenticeship Programme, with up to eight apprentices joining a year to broaden access to the solicitor’s profession. Alongside Freshfields, Linklaters is a member of City Century. It is also a founding partner for Vantage, an online database that matches aspiring solicitors with elite law firms using the Contextual Recruitment System to assess candidates’ socioeconomic background.
Additionally, the firm offers virtual work experience across both its legal functions and business teams to address social mobility cold spots outside of London. It also offers an undergraduate internship programme via Forage, which was launched in 2019, which has now been built out to offer six virtual internships and has seen over 57,000 enrolments to date. Sitting alongside this is its Making Links Discovery, a programme aimed at 16–18-year-old students across the UK and run in conjunction with the Social Mobility Foundation and Amos Bursary. It supports students who live in areas of low social mobility, helping them achieve legal careers, via mentoring. Added to this is the Making Links Scholars Programme, which supports university students from low-income backgrounds, providing £6,000 towards their fees and living costs, as well as mentoring and work experience.
See the next issue for further analysis of social mobility, which will examine the success rate of these initiatives and explore the personal experiences of senior lawyers from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds.