News
Legal week
March 03, 2008
A call to arms for diversity
Russell Lewin
We live in a world of luminous diversity and there are few places where humanity's rich variety is more apparent than in our capital city: a socioeconomic melting pot and haven for immigrants - whether from Belfast, Barbados or Bangalore - for over a thousand years. And yet, with certain elements of society remaining significantly under-represented, an examination of a cross-section of 'the City' today would not demonstrate the true extent of this diversity. While the solicitors' profession has for some time acknowledged the importance of addressing this issue, the fact remains that, in 2008, it remains disproportionately white and middle class, if no longer quite so male.
Notwithstanding these sometimes obsessively PC times, I have nothing against white, middle-class men - not least for being one myself - or women. But in a profession that takes pride in nurturing equality of opportunity and in being attuned to the needs of the 'global market' like nowhere else, we might share a collective sense of disappointment that for all the attention given to this topic in recent years, the net result is still one where the next generation tends very significantly to be recruited in the image of the one before.
But, hold on, you might say. Is it not the case that the calibre of graduates entering the legal profession is higher than ever? And, in any case, isn't the profession more truly diverse- in all senses - than before? So, in short, does any of this really matter? I could quite happily answer both the first two questions in the affirmative, but would still holler a definitive 'yes' to the final one. I do not doubt that most of those who are today charged with running the country's major law firms broadly accept the importance of promoting greater diversity, whether for reasons of corporate social responsibility policy or purely utilitarian considerations, but I also sense that many firms are aware that unconscious selection processes in recruitment can and do lead, despite the best of intentions, to a still-noticeable perpetuation of 'recruit in my own image' syndrome.
Much has been written about, to use the modern vernacular, 'the war for talent'. Whether or not the military analogy is particularly helpful, it does rather clearly conjure up a (broadly accurate) picture in which the demand for talent exceeds the available supply. Given prevailing market conditions, why would any law firm tolerate a recruitment process that could not be guaranteed invariably to run a 'true' rule over all candidates, as blind to issues of race, religion, gender or socioeconomic factors as justice herself?
So, my call to arms is for those who run today's leading law firms, collectively, to the extent that they can, and individually, to focus even more attention and resources on the means of achieving greater diversity for the longer term. This will require sustained, positive action of a kind that has only intermittently been seen, to date (although an excellent recent example is the Simmons & Simmons mentoring scheme launched last autumn). In terms of more collective action, The Social Mobility Foundation has already made some progress in galvanising a bridgehead of leading law firms to participate in its internship programme, which is aimed exclusively at academically high-achieving A-level students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds and which in 2008 will be running for its third summer. Besides seeking to encourage even greater participation of firms across the City and extending the scheme to firms based in other major cities around the country, the Foundation has also launched a programme of e-mentoring through its dedicated website ladders2law.org.uk.
To learn more about the initiatives and activities of the Foundation please go to socialmobility.org.uk or if you would like to offer your help or support, either as an individual or an organisation, please contact the Foundation's chief executive, Linkson Jack, at linkson.jack@socialmobility.org.uk.
Let us change the face of our profession, once and for all, to one that even more truly represents the diversity of our world, and the global legal market that increasingly washes around our shores. Assuredly, we shall all be the better for it. Russell Lewin is a partner at Baker & McKenzie and a trustee of the Social Mobility Foundation.
Trustees
Rt Hon David Blunkett MP was Education Secretary from 1997 to 2001, and then Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004, followed by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2005.
The Independent
February 26, 2007
Reforms aim to help poorer graduates become barristers
Robert Verkaik
Graduates from under-privileged backgrounds are to challenge the elitism of the barristers' profession, under plans outlined today.
Reforms aimed at challenging the dominance of the rich and privileged classes which are disproportionately represented among the membership of the Bar will tackle the decline in students from poorer backgrounds joining the profession.
They include financial assistance as well as measures to end the "intimidating environment" of the barristers' chambers which young lawyers must join if they want to train as advocates. The increasing cost of the Bar and a perception that it is run by a social elite has halted progress in the greater inclusion of barristers from different backgrounds.
A number of high-profile barristers, including the prime minister's wife, Cherie Booth QC, have warned that without changes, the Bar will continue to be dominated by white, middle-class male lawyers.
In a speech to the Social Mobility Foundation think tank in London this afternoon, Geoffrey Vos QC, Bar Council chairman, will say: "The Bar is a professional elite, by which I mean that the Bar's membership includes the best-quality lawyers practising advocacy and offering specialist legal advice in many specialist areas. That kind of elitism is meritocratic, and hence desirable."
"Unfortunately, however, the elitism which fosters the high-quality services that the Bar stands for has also encouraged another form of elitism. That is elitism in the sense of exclusivity, exclusion, and in the creation of a profession which is barely accessible to equally talented people from less privileged backgrounds."
Last month, Mr Vos warned that the future of the barristers' profession was threatened by an over-emphasis on posh accents and public school education. Mr Vos said then that people from ordinary backgrounds were often overlooked in favour of those who were from a "snobby" background. People from a privileged background were sometimes recruited even though they were not up to the job intellectually, he added.
In his speech today, Mr Vos will outline the "barriers to entry" to a career at the Bar and some of the ways in which these may be overcome.
The Bar Council has asked the law lord, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, to examine how these barriers can be overcome, and he will publish his interim report and consultation paper before Easter. He is expected to propose a placement programme to enable gifted children from state schools to learn about the Bar, the courts and barristers at first hand.
The Bar Council is also working towards putting together a new package of bank loans on favourable terms to allow young, aspiring barristers from poorer backgrounds to finance the Bar vocational course year and then have the financial ability to establish themselves in practice before they need to repay.
These loans would be available alongside the Inns of Court's scholarship and awards programmes. Mr Vos will say today: "I passionately believe that the professions in general, and the Bar in particular, must be accessible to the most able candidates from any background, whatever their race, gender, or socio-economic group.
"The Bar has done well in attracting good proportions of women and racial minorities and we must be as positive in attracting people from all socio-economic backgrounds."
The Bar Council
February 26, 2007
www.barcouncil.org.uk
Bar chairman unveils initiatives to increase access to the Bar
A series of measures designed to enable would-be barristers, no matter what their financial back ground, to pursue careers at the Bar will be unveiled today.
In a speech to the Social Mobility Foundation think-tank in London's Canary Wharf this afternoon, Geoffrey Vos QC, Bar Council Chairman, will say:
"The Bar is a professional elite, by which I mean that the Bar's membership includes the best quality lawyers practising advocacy and offering specialist legal advice in many specialist areas. That kind of elitism is meritocratic, and hence desirable".
"Unfortunately, however, the elitism which fosters the high quality services that the Bar stands for has also encouraged another form of elitism.
That is elitism in the sense of exclusivity, exclusion, and in the creation of a profession which is barely accessible to equally talented people from less privileged backgrounds."
Mr Vos will outline the "barriers to entry" to a career at the Bar - and some of the ways in which these may be overcome:
- a lack of familiarity with the profession
- the intimidating environment of the barristers' chambers
- the high cost of the Bar Vocational Course training year
- the lack of pupillages and the difficulty in obtaining pupillage
- the challenge of obtaining a tenancy having completed pupillage, and
- the lack of certainty of success and early earning power at the Bar
In his speech, and in anticipation of Lord Neuberger's findings, the Bar Chairman will announce today:
- a placement programme to enable gifted children from state schools to learn about the Bar, the Courts and about barristers at first hand: this will be delivered in co-operation with the Social Mobility Foundation and will enable school students to take an early and informed decision as to whether they wish to read law at university so as to be in the best position to enter the profession.
- that the Bar Council is working towards putting together a new package of bank loans on favourable terms to allow young, aspiring barristers from poorer backgrounds to finance the BVC year and then have the financial ability to establish themselves in practice before they need to repay. These loans will be available alongside the Inns of Court's well-established scholarship and awards programmes.
Mr Vos will say:
"I passionately believe that the professions in general, and the Bar in particular, must be accessible to the most able candidates from any background, whatever their race, gender, or socio-economic group.
"The Bar has done well in attracting good proportions of women and racial minorities and we must be as positive in attracting people from all socio-economic backgrounds."
The Times
February 27, 2007
Bar push for more state pupils
Frances Gibb
More state school pupils are to be recruited to the Bar in a drive to shed the profession's image as "stuffy" and only for the rich and privileged.
Geoffrey Vos, QC, chairman of the Bar Council, outlined plans yesterday to ensure that the 14,000 strong profession is open to talented pupils from all backgrounds, regardless of means. Mr Vos, speaking at the Social Mobility Foundation think-tank in Canary Wharf, East London, outlined reforms to include: bank loans to ensure "no candidate goes unfunded" on advantageous rates of interest; more pupillage places and placements with barristers for state school pupils.
The Bar Council has also asked Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury to examine barriers to entry. His interim findings will be published before Easter. The "notable lack of progress" for women in appointments to the bench has been condemned by Lady Justice Arden, a senior judge.