City firms try to debunk their ‘posh’ image with new pro-diversity initiative

Dec 16, 2015

Written By Emma Finamore, Editor, AllAboutLaw.co.uk

The initiative follows reports last month that elite firms were using a 'poshness test' to assess applicants.

City firms are trying to debunk the idea that they’re too ‘posh’ in order to attract people from all different backgrounds into the legal profession.

City Solicitors Horizons is a pilot social mobility initiative to improve access to the legal profession for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

It has been instigated by the City company City Solicitors’ Educational Trust (CSET) and The Legal Education Foundation (TLEF), with the support of the City of London Law Society (CLLS) and leading law firms.

The initiative was in set up in a response to a government-backed report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission which suggested that elite firms were requiring applicants to pass a ‘poshness test’ to gain entry into the profession.

This, the commission said, systematically excluded bright, capable people from less privileged backgrounds from the workforce.

Over the next three years, 50 law students annually, from universities in London and the south of England, will be selected to take part in a three-year programme alongside their undergraduate degrees.

Each intake will benefit from comprehensive classroom and one-to-one training sessions, mentoring from lawyers, and work experience from sponsoring firms.

City firms hope the initiative will address the barriers faced by those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and will help the students participating in the scheme enter the legal profession as trainee solicitors.

However, ‘disadvantaged’ is a fairly subjective concept, and the definition in this context requires simply that a student must be, either, from a non-selective state school, the first in their immediate family to attend university, or come from a ‘socially disadvantaged’ background.

Students must also be committed to joining the legal profession and have strong academic potential.

City Solicitors Horizons has published a full list of the universities and firms involved on its website.

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