Levelling Up Law - Opportunity Action Plan

Levelling Up Law Opportunity Action Plan

LEVELLING UP

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FOREWORD

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It has become apparent that, as a country, we will need to harness all our resources for our economy to recover effectively, and that means capitalising on all our talent, wherever it lies

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FOREWORD

Foreword

Seema Kennedy OBE Chair, Levelling Up Law True equality of opportunity means progressing through your talent alone: not on where you are from, what your parents did or what school you went to.

In the UK, however, for too long it has been the case that the connections and experiences a person gains, as a result of their family background and education, determine how successful they can be. This lack of social mobility not only damages the lives of individuals but also wider society as we fail to draw on all our existing talent.

Following the pandemic, it has become apparent that, as a country, we will need to harness all our resources for our economy to recover effectively, and that means capitalising on all our talent, wherever it lies. It is also clear that society now has higher expectations of how businesses should operate - putting social good at the forefront of their purpose and being completely transparent about how they are addressing it.

Businesses, universities and other organisations are beginning to make an impact on breaking down the barriers that remain for too many people and too many communities. I have met many who can demonstrate outstanding best practice and are making a real difference to levelling up the country. But some sectors are still viewed as more traditional and difficult to enter.

It’s crucial that the legal sector reaches out to whoever has the potential to succeed in it, wherever they live. That’s why the Social Mobility Pledge’s first sector-wide initiative to improve access and equal opportunities in the legal sector is so important. Working with 15 City of London Law Society (CLLS) member firms and a

number of universities, the project aims to boost social mobility in the profession by creating a framework for leading law firms to work together on solutions that will benefit the sector at large, leading to greater understanding and access.

Focusing on outreach, recruitment and progression, the project has examined the best practice already instituted by firms – from work with schools to contextualised recruitment - and how effectively that translates into opportunities for those furthest away from a level playing field.

It has heard from vice chancellors about the challenges their students face, particularly those students from non-Russell Group universities, in gaining access to work experience or placement opportunities at City firms and in feeling they can be themselves if they are successful in getting a job. Most importantly, it has considered possible solutions, from introducing more mentorship and role models, for both potential and current employees, to more rigorous data collection.

Earlier this year, the Purpose Coalition, a group of the UK’s leading policymakers, businesses and university vice chancellors, launched the Levelling Up Goals.

This report looks at the work that the 15 law firms are already doing in the context of these goals. Levelling up will pay huge dividends for the country, especially for those who have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Law firms have a fundamental role to play in bridging the gap between potential talent and the opportunities that the legal sector can offer.

Potential candidates and current employees increasingly expect their business to have a positive social impact and those that can demonstrate what they are doing are likely to reap the rewards. This report looks at the work that some firms are already carrying out and the solutions that they can help deliver to level up law which can act as an example to other sectors and industries.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

01: Executive Summary Britain’s legal system is world renowned for the guiding principle that every person is equal before the law and should have access to legal advice and representation. That principle, however, is in contrast to the fact that law is one of the least diverse professions in the country.

This is in the context of Britain having one of the lowest levels of social mobility across all OECD nations. Meanwhile, the pandemic has made many of the previously existing inequalities of opportunity deeper and more pronounced.

This is why 15 of Britain’s leading Law firms and members of the City of London Law Society have joined in partnership to create a Levelling Up Action Plan.

This Levelling Up Action Plan has the ambition to tackle inequalities and boost opportunities for people from all backgrounds; and wider access to and progression within the legal progression.

The Action Plan sets out three key recommendations to deliver this. The first recommendation focuses on enhancing practices of diversity measurement across areas of outreach and access, recruitment and progression; as well as reporting on the level of diversity that is measured.

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The second recommendation focuses on making a positive social impact and boosting outcomes through the development of an Open Door platform. Open Door will be an online platform developed by a strategic recruitment partner and will function as an ‘opportunity bridge’ between the participating top City Law firms and talented students at participating universities.

The final recommendation centres around the law firms focusing on continued advocacy, ensuring that the impact of their renewed commitments to boosting diversity are amplified outside of the 15 participating firms.

The Plan also draws on existing best practice throughout the participating firms. This ranges from: law scholarships that provide the financial support for those with the least financial means to access opportunities; access programmes that proactively reach more diverse groups of young people across the country; to continued support and mentoring programmes.

INTRODUCTION

02: Introduction

Levelling up in the context of the pandemic

In the UK, lack of social mobility has been a persistent problem and, even before the pandemic, it was often the case that how well a person did in life depended on where they started the journey.

The Social Mobility Pledge’s own research had indicated that young people in the UK were finding it harder to progress in the workplace than their parents or grandparents had. It also asked workers aged 18 to 64 how easy it was to get on in life in the UK, regardless of background, and a quarter rated it ‘hard’ or ‘very hard’¹.

Justine Greening first used the phrase “levelled up Britain” in 2015 to set out her view that equality of opportunity should be achieved not by taking opportunity away from those who already have it, but by giving the same access to opportunities to people and communities without them. Elected on a manifesto which vowed to ‘level up every part of the UK’, in his first speech as Prime Minister in 2019 Boris Johnson identified the need to ‘unleash the potential of the whole country’ and close the opportunity gap as one of the biggest challenges for his government. He included not only education and increased productivity as solutions, but improved infrastructure and giving people the chance to own their own home.

That ambition is now being more widely reflected across government, industry and civil society as the

profound impact of the pandemic across locations, ages and education levels has become clear. The pandemic has shone a spotlight on many of the inequalities that already existed but its effects have undoubtedly made the task of levelling up the country much more difficult. A report by the think tank, Centre for Cities, estimates that the government’s plan for levelling up the country has become four times harder because of the damage the pandemic has inflicted on the employment market².

In his 2020 Spending Review, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that unemployment rose by 300,000 in 2020 and that the fall in output would be the largest for over 300 years. Economic output is not expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels until late 2022, and even then the economic damage is likely to be lasting³. The Office for Budget Responsibility provided a reference scenario in which the UK economy would contract by 35%, with unemployment peaking at 10% as a result of the pandemic. Some sectors such as finance will emerge relatively unscathed with a contraction of just 5%, while others such as retail and hospitality will contract by 50% and 85% respectively₄.

That difference in impact across sectors has already resulted in a difference in impact on people. It has been found that 15% of workers in shut-down sectors are from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic

¹www.socialmobilitypledge.org/news/2019/2/2/class-diversity-at-work-worse-now-than-decades-agonbsp ²www.centreforcities.org/publication/cities-outlook-2021 ³UK Government. Spending Review Speech. UK Government. [Online] November 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spending-review-2020-speech. ₄Office for Budget Responsibility. Coronavirus analysis. Office for Budget Responsibility. [Online] April 14, 2020. [Cited: April 15, 2020.] https://cdn.obr.uk/Coronavirus_reference_scenario_commentary.pdf.

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INTRODUCTION

background compared to 12% of all workers, 57% are women compared to a workforce that is 48% female and those who are low paid are more likely to work in shut-down sectors, as well as less likely to be able to work from home. Young people are particularly impacted, with one in three under the age of 25 employed in the three sectors most affected by the pandemic - travel, hospitality and retail. While employment levels for those aged 25-64 have fallen by 0.5%, employment levels among 16-24 year olds have fallen by 7%₅. ONS figures reviewing the labour market in February 2021 showed that three fifths of the fall in number of employees came from the under-25s₆.

Across every level of education, the impact of the pandemic has been severe, with the digital divide emerging as a key barrier from primary school through to university. An Institute for Fiscal Studies report assessed that the cost of lost learning could translate to as much as £350bn in lost earnings, with an estimation that pupils stand to lose an average of £40,000 in lifetime earnings, with children from disadvantaged backgrounds most affected₇. The impact on the health and wellbeing of our children is immense and the threat of a lost generation is very real.

Against this challenging background, there is now wide recognition that an organisation’s social impact is a crucial part of its governance. The Government has introduced a social mobility agenda into each of its departments and has given the Social Mobility Commission a place at the centre of government, acknowledging the need for levelling up to be at the heart of its plans. It recognises that this does not just extend to jobs and education but also, for example, to sustainable homes, health and infrastructure.

Businesses, universities and other organisations are also moving towards delivering a more authentic socially responsible agenda, away from purely corporate governance. Polling carried out by the Social Mobility Pledge reflects what has become much clearer as a result of the pandemic: that the public now expect higher standards of social impact from the organisations that they work for or do business with. The majority also believe that their performance on improving social mobility should form part of how their success is measured. That

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requires a clear and wide-ranging set of objectives which can form the basis of an organisation’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and shape their focus.

For business and also for universities, the shift in consumer expectations towards making a positive impact has also increased and so too should the need to build a business strategy and plans around meaningful purpose. In research carried out by the US Trust as part of the Bank of America Private Bank, 93% of millennials believed that social or environmental impact is important in investment decisions. There is growing pressure from the public and investors for corporate Britain to play its part in solving global challenges, including climate change.

That means encouraging as many companies as possible to make a public commitment to reaching net zero emissions.

That is not only the right thing for the country, it is also the smart approach for businesses. There is increasing evidence across markets and sectors of the intrinsic role that having a clear purpose has in underpinning long-term commercial success. For example, in an evaluation of 56 academic studies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, it was found organisations with the highest ESG ratings were found to have a lower cost of debt and equity and 89% of the studies analysed showed that companies with the highest ESG ratings outperformed the market in the medium (3-5 years) and long (5-10 years) term 8 .

The Levelling Up Goals have been designed to provide the framework by which purpose-led organisations can address the long-standing issue of poor social mobility more effectively and help communities across the country to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

₅ Powell, Andy, Francis-Devine, Brigid and Foley, Niamh. Coronavirus: Impact on the labour market. London : House of Commons Library, 2020. ₆ www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/latest#main-points ₇ Johnson, Paul, Joyce, Robert and Platt, Lucinda. The IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities: a New Year’s Message. s.l. : IFS/Nuffield Foundation, 2021

THE ROLE OF THE LEGAL SECTOR

03: The role of the legal sector in levelling up and the Levelling Up Goals

The Levelling Up Goals provide an ambitious and strategic approach to address the social mobility challenge in the legal sector. Britain’s legal system is world renowned for the guiding principle that every person is equal before the law and should have access to legal advice and representation. However, the fact is that law is one of the least diverse professions in the country.

A 2019 survey by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of 96% of law firms in the UK found that only a fifth of their employees were Black, Asian and minority ethnic, and only 3% of lawyers and 4% of other staff had some form of disability. It also showed that women make up about half of UK lawyers but only a third of partners. Of the 21% of law firm employees who were from an ethnic minority, only 3% were Black, and only 2% were of multiple ethnicities. Despite Black, Asian and minority ethnic lawyers making up just over a fifth of partners overall (which is in proportion to the general percentage of lawyers), Black and Asian partners were found to be significantly under-represented. In those with at least fifty partners, only 8% were from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background.

There is widespread recognition that this situation must change and many law firms are already taking steps to attract and retain the best talent available. The firms taking part in this project acknowledge that a more concerted approach is required, one that understands more clearly where barriers exist and how they can be overcome.

The workshop sessions they have joined have enabled them to hear first-hand from universities about the challenges their students face in accessing opportunities in the law sector and to consider with them a range of solutions.

The framework provided by the 14 Levelling Up Goals will help assess how law firms are delivering change, the best practice that already exists and the expectations they need to meet. The Goals they are meeting will principally be centred around :• Goal 3 Positive destinations post 16+, • Goal 4 Right advice and experiences, •Goal 5 Open recruitment, •Goal 6 Fair career progression and • Goal 14 Achieve Equality through diversity and inclusion.

The framework will make it easier to evaluate that and - as a result - compare it in a consistent way across organisations.

₈ Deutsche Bank (2012). ‘Sustainable Investing: Establishing Long-Term Value and Performance’ ₉ www.sra.org.uk/sra/equality-diversity/key-findings/diverse-legal-profession/

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LEVELLING UP LAW PROJECT

04: The Levelling Up Law Project The Levelling Up Law Project is the first sector-wide initiative undertaken by the Purpose Coalition.

Fifteen City of London Law Society (CLLS) member firms are participating in the partnership which is working closely with a number of universities to create new and more accessible pathways from higher education into the legal sector. The project is chaired by Seema Kennedy OBE, former Government Minister and solicitor.

It aims to create a framework for leading law firms to work together on solutions that will benefit the profession at large, leading to greater understanding and access.

Participating law firms:

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www.oecd.org/social/broken-elevator-how-to-promote-social-mobility-9789264301085-en.htm

LEVELLING UP LAW PROJECT

The Levelling Up Law Project has sought to assess three key segments of the legal sector’s current practice, which includes outreach practices, recruitment practices, and levels of progression of individuals within the firms.

Each segment had working groups of five law firms each. The first set of sessions considered best practice; the second session assessed the use of data; and the third session discussed potential recommendations.

This section of the Opportunity Action Plan will first consider existing best practice and map that against the Levelling Up Goals. The Plan will then consider insights from the current practices, including specific gaps, challenges or problems; and then this Plan will consider a set of recommendations.

Participating universities:

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OUTREACH AND ACCESS

4.1 Best Practice

The information on best practice found in this section is wholly

drawn from the Levelling Up Law workshop sessions which took

place from February to April 2021.

It is intended to be a snapshot of some of the good practices currently being undertaken by the participating law firms and not a comprehensive account of all their activities related to social mobility or levelling up.

This section will consider best practice mapped against outreach and access, recruitment, and progression.

The report also recognises specific examples of best practice from the participating law firms.

These examples are not exhaustive and are purely used to give recognition to stand-out best practice where we have seen it.

4.1.1: Outreach and access All the law firms participating in this project engage in a variety of outreach activities, working upstream to identify talent and ensuring that those young people are then adequately equipped to be able to access the opportunities they offer as City law firms.

These programmes reach into the communities which are often furthest away from a level playing field. Most people there have little or no experience of university or higher education and little knowledge either of what is needed to get there or what opportunities will become available as a result. Most of them will have had no contact with the legal profession and little idea of what a lawyer or a law firm does on a day-to-day basis.

The programmes run by the firms in the project focus mainly on state school students who would not ordinarily have had access to work experience or mentoring guidance at school. While most

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focus their efforts at secondary school and university level, a few also begin to forge those connections at primary school.

These acknowledge the importance of early engagement to inform and inspire younger children about the world of law as a potential career and give them the motivation to begin to focus on the academic and non-academic skills they will need to be successful.

‘Access Ashurst’ , a programme which targets secondary school students with a social mobility flag and offers mentoring, coaching and work experience (Ashurst).

Most law firms begin their outreach programmes at secondary school level although the stage at which engagement takes place varies. Some target pre-A Level students but much of school outreach is more focused on Years 12 and 13.

The schemes are aimed at increasing knowledge about law as a profession and the process of becoming a lawyer. Crucially, they also offer work experience and mentoring, developing a young person’s network and social connections before university.

Many of these programmes are well-established and run in partnership with charities and other organisations, which are set out in appendix 1.

A number of law firms target specific areas of disadvantage with their outreach work. Some operate programmes from their regional offices into local communities.

Clyde & Co runs a work experience programme for 16-year-olds predominantly from East London, ‘Bridge to the City’, which helps increase their understanding of professional careers and enhances their employability skills.

It works with the East London Business Alliance and the Tower Hamlets Business Partnership to try to offer experiences at an early age, as well as offering reading programmes, mentoring programmes and work experience

OUTREACH AND ACCESS

Weil supports around 300 state school students each year via WEIL (Widening Entry Into Law) whichconsists of a range of initiatives that focus on soft and hard-skills development, work experience and mentoring. The Firm is continuously working to connect its school outreach activities with its Graduate Recruitment and entrylevel pipeline which has so far resulted in a number of students accepting offers for a Vacation Scheme.

DLA Piper’s Head Start programme eases the path of people from under-represented groups into the legal progression and helps them overcome barriers that might prevent them progressing into law and thriving in their early careers. As part of Head Start, DLA Piper works with participating students for three years, providing financial assistance, tailored courses of mentoring and training. After completion of the three years, students are linked to the firm’s global graduate programme and are pointed towards the most appropriate opportunities for them.

Eversheds Sutherland Unlocked is a unique programme aimed at Year 12 / 13 students who are studying at state schools, have a genuine enthusiasm for the legal profession and would be the first members of their family to go to university. The three-day programme, which normally runs in seven of its UK offices (and virtually this year), has been developed to give young people from less privileged backgrounds the support to successfully apply to university, provides them with an insight into a career in law and some of the skills to help them fulfil their potential. Approximately 100 students participate every year and the students come to it through direct applications, Pathways to Law and the schools it has a direct relationship with.

RPC runs a mentoring scheme with Jo Richardson Community School in Dagenham and Oasis Academy Brislington in Bristol.

Some of the schemes for secondary schools form part of wider programmes which go from school through to university and beyond. Traditionally, law firms’ outreach often did not take place until university. More sustained programmes, however, allow them to engage in a more holistic way with young people, developing a more reciprocal relationship with them as they progress through the education system. Vacation schemes are not only an integral stage in a firm’s recruitment processes but also offer a student the means to begin establishing an employable graduate identity.

The CMS Law Scholarship programme, targeted at Year 12 students and advertised to every school and sixth form college in the country, takes on 12 students who get a mentor and a place on the ‘First Steps’ CMS Programme. Three winners receive funding towards their university course and the relationship between CMS and these students often continues closely through university.

Charles Russell Speechlys runs a ‘Career Start Talent’ Pipeline Programme for Year 12s which offers support and engagement over five years. Candidates are recruited onto the programme via the mentoring or work experience programmes. CSR commits to at least six hours of contact a year per candidate over the next four years, until they start work. It provides skill sessions, training and networking events at relevant milestones in candidates’ academic and career journeys. Some financial assistance is provided to help those students with the transition to university. This London scheme is now being extended to students based near the regional offices.

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OUTREACH AND ACCESS

For many, finance is a significant barrier to law.

This can start at school with the potential cost of travelling to insight days and interviews and continues through university where many young people have to work to support themselves and are therefore unable to take advantage of work experience and holiday schemes. This is especially true in London, which for many young people is costly to reach and expensive when they get there. The participating law firms operate a range of funding options available to allow those from less advantaged backgrounds to access opportunities. Some link participation in competitive outreach schemes at school to a range of bursaries available to help with university funding.

Some firms have been exploring introducing financial support for people from disadvantaged backgrounds earlier to help them with the debt they incur to get a law degree, for example.

For young people from backgrounds the furthest away from opportunity, the financial aspect alone of going to university can be particularly daunting. As part of Simmons & Simmons’ Young Talent Programme, the firm has provided £5,000 bursaries for the university students as part of the programme to help provide that financial platform of support for students.

Freshfields has launched the Freshfields Aspiring Professionals Programme in the UK, in partnership with the Social Mobility Foundation, to promote social mobility and racial equality in professional careers.The three-year programme will welcome a cohort of 100 students each year from lower socio-economic and racially diverse backgrounds across the UK, helping those from social mobility ‘cold spots’ gain access to professional careers.

The CMS Law Scholarship also offers financial support, with £2,500 of support in every university year. Since 2012, its scheme has been helping Year 12 students in England, Wales & Northern Ireland and S5/S6 students in Scotland onto the path to the legal profession by providing financial support, mentoring support and paid work experience. In 2021, we will be offering up to 10 Scholarships across its UK schemes.

The Social Mobility Business Partnership - A volunteer-led collaboration of 150+ commercial organisations, including several participating law firms (DLA Piper, CMS and Charles Russell Speechly). It commits to support year 12 students from low income backgrounds in the pursuit of career and offers 500 student places across the UK in 2020. Students have a week of work experience within firms and a week at client offices so as to familiarise them with different types of legal teams.

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Most outreach work has been conducted online during the pandemic. Participating law firms unanimously agree that the situation has allowed them to engage with a much wider cohort, especially in social mobility coldspots and with non-Russell Group universities. Virtual programmes have the potential to reach out not only to those students but also to more broadly increase the reach, accessibility and engagement of these initiatives across the board. They were especially helpful in being able to reach those young people from less advantaged backgrounds outside London who would not have considered travelling to the city for events because of the cost or who would not have felt confident enough to have engaged in those events in person.

A number of firms noted that a significant number of students have caring responsibilities, or have to work, and the opportunity to take part in work experience is therefore limited. The availability of virtual sessions and recorded content is very useful in these circumstances.

Virtual activities have included law fairs at universities, a ‘Meet the Firm’ event, application skills webinars for aspiring lawyers and a commercial awareness course. There have also been online work experience sessions and virtual internships available, open to a wider cohort. Some firms moved their vacation schemes fully online and the transition to digital platforms gave many students the opportunity to hear from more role models.

In response to the pandemic, the Access Ashurst programme was made entirely virtual in 2020. It targets final year school students and provides a year’s mentoring with Ashurst employees, providing them with experience of a law firm and their partner organisations.

A representative from Sullivan & Cromwell discussed how, as a result of the pandemic, all activity has shifted online from a previously traditional practice of outreached being based around physical and in-person events. This has enabled the firm to have wider reach when performing outreach by the nature of virtual engagement.

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ONLINE ACTIVITY

Online activity

There is an appreciation that the transition to digital or virtual platforms has great potential to make an impact on social mobility, especially in improving outreach and recruitment processes In a usual year, Eversheds Sutherland would attend over 100 events and law fairs in person and a small number of virtual events. For the 2021 campaign, running from September 2020 – August 2021, it has so far arranged and attended approximately 50% more events than usual, all virtual. It has been able to reach a much greater volume of candidates from a wider range of universities. With the time saved in travel, this enabled the Emerging Talent team to personally attend more events than before.All its Vacation Schemes, Insight Evenings, Open Days and Assessment Centres have been virtual since March 2021, with positive feedback from all involved.

There were some concerns raised about the impact of digital poverty where individuals may not have been able to access a digital device or internet connection in order to take part in online activities or who, for cultural reasons, did not feel comfortable turning on their cameras to participate fully in virtual activities, such as virtual assessment centres.

All the firms, however, intend to develop their online offering further even when pandemic restrictions are lifted. There is an appreciation that the transition to digital or virtual platforms has great potential to make an impact on social mobility, especially in improving outreach and recruitment processes. Going forward, firms have expressed a desire to adopt a hybrid model, and continue to benefit from the reach that digital engagement allows.

Many of the participating firms are also considering how to develop their digital offering further, extending their work with popular social media platforms including Instagram and Linkedin, in a review of how to communicate with young people differently and therefore engage with them more effectively.

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RECRUITMENT

4.1.2 Recruitment Many law firms have re-engineered their recruitment processes so that they better attract and retain a much wider demographic that is more representative of their clients and of the world more generally. That often starts with widening engagement at a university level, where wellestablished connections with the Russell Group have led to an over reliance on their graduates in the recruitment process, to the detriment of other non-Russell Group universities. There is an acknowledgement by many of the law firm participants that there is still a perception that the legal profession is in some way exclusive; they also recognise that their strong relationships with the Russell Group mean that there is an information gap between them and universities outside that group. This project is just another important step in bridging that gap and demonstrating the reality about recruitment to city law firms However, many law firms are also acknowledging that there needs to be a more fundamental review of processes to move away from a system of disqualifying attributes. Several firms have reviewed their recruitment practices and used internal focus groups to discuss what “success” looks like in the context of graduate hires. This has culminated in the creation of new recruitment frameworks, competencies, strength-based interview formats and the incorporation of core firm values into recruitment processes.

Eversheds Sutherland has adopted a strengthbased approach to recruitment, which focuses on the positive rather than negative attributes of a candidate, to gain a more rounded view of the candidate and therefore a fairer assessment.

That begins to negate bias towards experience and networks by instead looking at inherent or natural strengths, seeing where the candidates are likely to succeed.

Fenchurch Law is moving away from selecting candidates on the basis of their average scores across a range of skills and is moving towards looking at what their peak skills are in certain areas and trying to get those peak skills across areas throughout the team. This acknowledges that viewing people through the lens of their average scores is a problem for diversity.

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Fenchurch Law remains committed to taking on talent at any level but also wants to build methodically from the bottom up. It intends to recruit 2 x 2 year PQE insurance disputes lawyers this year, and in each of the next four years, ideally looking for one new joiner in London, and one in Leeds. In future their recruitment will be weighted towards London, but will not be exclusively focused on London.

As part of more wide-reaching changes to recruitment processes, there is a shared view by many of the participating law firms that A Level results should no longer be a recruitment criterion. Following last year’s results which were badly affected by the pandemic and the subsequent closure of schools, with this year’s also likely to be significantly affected, at least one firm has stopped using them altogether and others were considering doing so. The removal of minimum academic requirements at A level could help to begin levelling the playing field.

The introduction of contextual recruitment systems and policies has been widespread. Contextual recruitment helps ensure inclusion in graduate recruitment by taking into account candidates’ backgrounds rather than viewing them purely as a set of grades and qualifications. These have provided additional information about social mobility and protected characteristics which allows for further adjustments to be made as a result. Many law firms use the Rare contextual recruitment system and some have shared the data that has resulted. Much of the feedback on its use has been positive. The use of blind recruitment, the removal of covering letters and the redaction of educational information from interviews to remove educational bias towards certain universities are all measures which have been introduced more widely.

A new Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) will be introduced in September 2021. It is a system of examinations that all prospective solicitors will have to pass to qualify and will replace law conversion and the Legal Practice Course (LPC). Instead, candidates must pass both stages of the SQE and complete two years of qualifying work experience. Some firms saw its introduction as an opportunity to shape the future although a number of concerns were raised that it had been poorly thought through and would impede an improvement in social mobility in the law sector.

Specifically, the associated ‘qualifying work experience’ might reintroduce the barrier that has always featured in access to opportunity - those who cannot afford to undertake unpaid internships and work experience will be impacted most. This is something that should be considered by the law firms going forward.

RECRUITMENT

Most of the law firms are actively looking at different routes to accommodate talent pipelines and are developing alternative entry routes. Some have already introduced legal apprenticeship programmes, although many are still at the early stages and therefore cannot be fully evaluated.

Some firms operate apprenticeships within their company but outside the legal sector, including in finance and IT.

RPC offers a range of business and legal apprenticeships. Business apprenticeships cover a range of disciplines including brand, marketing and skills, finance, HR, IT and secretarial.

Paralegal apprenticeships are also available.

It currently has 15 apprentices working in the business and 8 who have completed their apprenticeship and secured a role there

Evershed Sutherland offers level seven solicitor apprenticeships in conjunction with BPP University Law School. It provides its apprentices with the chance to qualify as a solicitor following a six-year programme of work-based learning and part-time study whilst earning a salary rather than paying the tuition fees required for full-time study. It currently has 36 apprentices across the firm and the apprenticeship route has widened its talent pool and allowed it to further recruit diversity and promote social mobility.

The programme increases productivity and employee engagement and improves retention. All apprentices are encouraged to partake in our CR and pro-bono opportunities and initiatives, to help its communities thrive, and their involvement and engagement has increased innovation, diversity of thought and new ideas.

Some companies were seeing evidence that updated recruitment policies were having a positive impact on gender and ethnic diversity in their intake, although others were more hesitant about the impact of the same practices on social mobility which appeared to be a more challenging problem. There were instances where firms had consciously changed the make-up of their internal recruitment teams to ensure that it was as diverse as possible. They could not only review action from a strategy viewpoint but could also consider any unintended biases that might appear.

Freshfields has run the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme for nine years, designed to address the disproportionate underrepresentation in large commercial law firms and other City institutions of Black men from less socially mobile backgrounds.

Working with universities nationwide, it is aimed at eligible first year students reading law and sometimes other subjects too. With travel-paid insights meetings and follow-on offerings for all candidates, recipients of the scholarship have gone on to Freshfields and other large commercial law firms, with some now qualified as solicitors or at the Bar. In 2020/2021 Scholars have received additional tech bursaries.

With the aim to demystify commercial law and the application process, Freshfields’ graduate website enables students to find online videos and guides about the application process, with access to a demo test of their psychometrics. This has been designed to build success and knowledge for all students, regardless of their background, university or geographic location. Freshfields has also made practice tests available on their website to help applicants prepare for the process.

Over the summer of 2020, RPC conducted anonymous interviews with people across the firm to understand their experiences with race and ethnicity. A report has consequently been prepared for their Board with a five-principle plan towards improving race and ethnicity questionnaires.

The importance of mentoring featured throughout, from initial school outreach to recruitment and beyond, enabling young people to learn about law as a profession and about the character of individual companies from those that work there.

Clyde & Co is exploring the use of data from universities as well as from the company itself to create a new strategy for their Early Careers team, creating a type of alumni network to tap into specific universities rather than just those they already reach out to, typically part of the Russell Group.

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PROGRESSION

When reviewing applications for training contacts and Vacation Schemes, Weil takes into account any mitigating circumstances that an applicant may have faced. The Firm was also one of the first adopters of Rare’s contextualised recruitment system to measure an individual’s performance against the average15 grades of their school. All applications are reviewed holistically so even if a candidate falls slightly short of the academic requirements, but demonstrates great potential, they will still be considered.

There remains a fundamental problem for the law firms relating to the volume of applications they receive for what continue to be a limited number of entry level positions. Many advised that there was simply not the capacity to carry out even more detailed assessments of candidates.

4.1.3 Progression Attracting and recruiting talent, wherever an individual is from and whatever their background, is key to making a difference to improving social mobility in this country. However, true levelling up is dependent on whether an organisation can retain and progress that talent through the ranks to the most senior positions.

All the law firms participating in the project acknowledge that this presents a significant challenge for their companies, especially at the highest levels, and are carrying out extensive work to address it. The issue of how comfortable an individual is in an organisation - whether they feel they fit into its culture and whether they are comfortable enough to flourish, personally and professionally - is key to successful retention and progression in a company.

Again, mentoring features in the strategies of many of the participating law firms as a means of providing an internal network of support. Some companies have strong internal mentoring systems that have been in place for a number of years and which link employees to more senior colleagues on a one-to-one basis.

In addition to mentoring, allyship is an important pillar to boosting inclusion within organisations.

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Allyship is where individuals - or groups of individuals - actively promote and advance the culture of inclusion through intentional, positive and conscious efforts that benefit people as a whole. Everyone has the ability to be an ally, even those who are perceived as being relatively ‘privileged.’ This emphasises the responsibility everyone in an organisation has to actively promote diversity and inclusion - and promote a culture that works equitably for everyone.

Many also operate reverse mentoring programmes where more junior staff pair with senior colleagues to provide views and feedback on company policy.

Some of these programmes focus specifically on ethnic minority groups and will be rolled out to other inclusion strands if successful. The role of storytelling alongside mentorship is important in creating an inclusive culture where open communication thrives.

The ability to see someone from a similar background, and to hear their personal stories and the challenges they have had to overcome, provides inspiration and motivation to those at an earlier stage in their careers.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has mentoring and buddy programmes with every new joiner being given both a partner mentor and a peer mentor

PROGRESSION

Some firms have developed strong networks to ensure that their organisation is as inclusive and welcoming as possible. They can include a range of diversity networks including social mobility, race, ethnicity and heritage and LGBTQ+. Staff are encouraged to talk in an environment where they feel comfortable, sharing experiences and discussing challenges and achievements.

Trowers & Hamlins operates a ‘Trowers Connect’ programme which uses spot networking within the organisation that will connect people for a variety of reasons across the firm. It creates an atmosphere of open communication and facilitates interactions between junior colleagues and partners

Allies@RPC Network has over 120 selfappointed members from across the firm who commit to being available and supportive to colleagues and to promoting an inclusive culture

Skills training and development programmes within firms can help employees progress to senior and leadership roles. By sharing insight, expertise and knowledge of the skills needed to succeed (and progress) within the profession, firms can ensure fair career progression.

Weil runs a highly popular internal mentoring programme which connects lawyers and staff at all levels with colleagues in other parts of the Firm to undertake mutual learning.

In addition, Weil has also piloted a reverse mentoring scheme and is looking to expand on this in the future.

Freshfields has launched a social mobility network, and most recently a social mobility event series, covering topics such as intersectionality, unconscious bias and micro aggressions. These open conversations have involved all levels of the firm – partner to trainee – and have increased awareness and engagement in these important topics.

Strikingly, it had an impact on the number of people updating their diversity data, which the firm hopes to maintain and grow.

Participating firms have generally adopted flexible working practices but some have more formal policies in place than others. Some teams within organisations are given discretion to allow flexibility where possible. Flexible working is very often allowed especially for those returning to the office after maternity leave and is often seen as a useful policy to support a gender-balanced workforce.

Simmons & Simmons runs a promotion school every two to three years where all employees meet to learn new skills , encouraging them to believe that progression is possible and providing insights on what is required for that.

The previous cohort talk about their experiences from a range of backgrounds

Charles Russell Speechlys ‘ new Business School offers a wide range of skills sessions and in particular it provides focussed programmes for different career stages to help develop its talent with the skills and expertise they need to progress to senior or leadership roles.

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D ATA

5. Data and measurements

Data collection and analysis are vital aspects of any work to improve

social mobility or widen entry into a profession. This is why the second

set of sessions focused on what data and measurements the law firms use across outreach and access; recruitment; and progression.

The use of data through measurements and reporting on diversity is also a requirement of the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA). The SRA has set out minimum requirements that outline that regulated firms have to collect, report and publish data about the diversity make-up of their workforce every two years.

What gets measured often gets done and the collection, tracking and reporting of data is a crucial stepping stone to ensuring both accountability and improvement in the sector. Without effective use of data, firms cannot measure or analyse the impact of the work they do to improve the social mobility and diversity of the profession.

Data can be used to inform the outreach policies of law firms. By better understanding the backgrounds of those they engage with, firms can fine tune their outreach schemes and programmes. They can consider which young people are currently targeted, and then discover the areas where more engagement could be made or could be more accurately targeted. This can also entail collecting data on current employees in order to make a judgement on which groups are underrepresented and need more outreach efforts.

Clyde & Co has plans to start measuring and tracking data relating to university and academic background so it can create a data-informed strategy for its Early Careers Team. This will enable the firm to see where people have been to university and use this information to create an alumni network.

This will be used to inform a wider strategy of university engagement when the data indicates particular types of institutions might be underrepresented.

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Charles Russell Speechlys has recently started collecting data on its outreach programmes with its Career Start programme. This will enable it to more effectively benchmark its performance on outreach and access; and marks a significant step forward for the firm in its efforts to boost social mobility.

Firms are trying to look at data at every stage of the recruitment process so they can see if there are particular groups impacted at particular stages of the process. This will enable the firms to recognise the specific barriers to entry which exist for certain candidates and inform strategies and policies to remove these obstacles.

CMS records and uses data at every stage of progression within the firm, from promotions to partner equity reviews to partner promotions, and undertakes analyses at each stage. It demonstrated a comprehensive use of tracking and monitoring data.

Various systems which collect, track and measure data on potential candidates have been used by the firms to interrogate recruitment processes. For example, firms have used the data collected using Apply4Law’s tracking system, which collects all of the standard data on protected characteristics and social mobility. Another of these data tracking systems which is commonly used by the participating law firms is the Rare contextual recruitment system.

Rare gives firms indicators in the form of index scores and flags, which they found useful. Firms can use data to make adjustments to the recruitment process and make notes of where these adjustments have been made and therefore can see where the impact of contextual recruitment is to be found.

D ATA

Freshfields proactively take part in benchmarking exercises to measure progress in respect of social mobility and other strands of diversity. It works with external organisations, to invest in research; increase understanding of critical issues and challenges; and to share knowledge. Freshfields partners with organisations such as the Social Mobility Foundation to review progress through its annual social mobility index report.

Many of the participating firms are collecting and using data to analyse the recruitment, retainment and progression rates of their Black, Asian and ethnic minority employees. A couple of the firms had recently participated, for example, with a piece of research undertaken by Pirical, a leading database of 400 lawyers in more than 130 countries. Its research looked at the ethnic diversity of 19 law firms, from the trainee level upwards and including business services, and used data from the Office for National Statistics.

Firms remarked that they found it a useful way to benchmark their own progress against the other firms involved.

Some firms remarked that data collected on ethnic minority recruitment and progression was often difficult to analyse. They found that differing attainment gaps between ethnic minority groups mean that ‘BAME’ is not a particularly useful designation in this respect. Firms have tried to collect data on specific ethnic groups with attainment gaps. When ethnically diverse people are tracked in and along the profession, the data collected on ethnic minority individuals can often hide that there are specific challenges for the Black - and particularly Black male - experience in the legal profession.

Trowers & Hamlins have begun to consider retention and promotion rates from associate to senior associate levels between ethnic minority colleagues in the firm, compared with their white colleagues. This is the first time they have delved into collecting data for progression or attrition, and is done through surveys.

Other terms used to collect data have been reassessed by various participating firms. To isolate those who have poor social mobility or face particular class obstacles to the legal profession, some firms use an individual’s eligibility for Free School Meals, whether they were the first generation in their family to go to university and whether they went to a state or fee-paying school.

However, it seems that parental occupation is a more effective indicator of social mobility and data on this should be collected in conjunction with the other existing metrics.

Weil encourages all partners and employees to submit diversity data on a named-basis. In respect of social mobility, Weil follows SRA best-practice guidance and the Social Mobility Commission’s recommendation of obtaining data points on education, parental occupation and eligibility for free school meals.

Since so much of the data collected, especially related to progression, comes from diversity surveys and questionnaires, firms have considered how these are conducted, the questions they ask and how they are communicated to their employees. Some firms have shifted their internal communication in surveys to emphasise that the data collected is used to help the people within the firm and ensure there are no barriers to their progression.

In Clyde & Co, the change in messaging in its engagement strategy has resulted in an improvement of engagement, such as responses to surveys and questionnaires.

This has led to more employees being willing to provide data on their background, which enables the firm to better track and measure key data characteristics. For example, Clyde & Co now has ethnicity data for 90% of its employees, whereas prior to the change in messaging it was approximately half. This indicates that use of language is crucial to engaging employees to improve data collection and measurement; and Clyde & Co should be recognised for its efforts on this.

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OUTREACH AND ACCESS

6.1 Outreach and access Analysis through Levelling Up Goals

Aligning with: Goal 2 Successful school years Goal 3 Positive destinations post 16+ Goal 4 Right advice and experience Goal 14 Achieve equality through diversity and inclusion school years 2 Successful

4

Right advice and experiences

3 Positive destinations Post 16+

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Achieve equality, through diversity & inclusion

Outreach work plays a crucial role in enabling those from less advantaged backgrounds to access the opportunities that a career in law can offer. Although traditionally the focus was on building relationships with universities, the law sector, like other industries, has acknowledged that the earlier the contact, the more effective the engagement. Some firms are already working with primary schools to inform and inspire children at a much younger age, an approach which also has the potential to engage parents in the process, ensuring more support as they progress to secondary school.

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Providing the right information and advice to young people before they make decisions about A Level and degree subject choices means that they are better equipped to make important choices and more focused on what they need to do to achieve their ambitions. They begin to recognise that a career in law could be for someone like them.

The part that mentoring in particular can play in encouraging young people to consider pursuing a career is huge but is especially important in those sectors that are perceived as more traditional and closed. If that relationship can be maintained and developed over a number of years, as with some of the participating law firms’ schemes, it will engender trust and confidence that will have a much more positive impact. Being able to see and hear people who look and sound like them is a major factor in attracting potential talent.

Working with employees at the law firm will not only develop an individual’s knowledge of what a law firm does, it should also provide the firms with feedback on their impressions of the company and how well they felt they fitted in.

The move to virtual activities as a result of the pandemic has seen a significant increase in reach, including in cold spots and to non-Russell Group universities. It has allowed law firms to connect with many more young people who would previously have been deterred from engaging because of the geographical distance involved in attending activities in person or because of confidence issues. Many law firms intend to continue their online contact even when the current restrictions are lifted.

There is also a clear opportunity to improve digital content and think more creatively about how to attract a more diverse cohort of young people to consider law as a career. Some law firms are already increasing their use of platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube to encourage communication and engagement with students.

OUTREACH AND ACCESS

6.2 Recruitment

university or who have not studied law. It provides an opportunity to earn while learning valuable on and off-the-job skills for those young people who might not have had the chance to access law as a profession otherwise.

Aligning with: Goal 5 Open recruitment Goal 14 Achieve equality through diversity and inclusion recruitment 5 Open

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Achieve equality, through diversity & inclusion

There is a broad acknowledgement that the recruitment practices historically employed by City law firms are no longer fit for purpose. If they are not to miss out on the best legal talent pool, their recruitment systems need to be more open and fair. The perception of a ‘closed shop’ of City institutions is still most prominent in the law sector.

The law firms participating in this project are all committed to relying less on the traditional pools of talent that family connections and Russell Group universities have previously produced, to ensure that employment opportunities in the professions are open to all. That means forging new links with schools and universities with which they would not previously have had contact and in areas of the country they would not normally have reached, to close the socio-economic recruitment gap. It also means tailoring new systems to meet the challenges that many disadvantaged people have to overcome, whether that is in confidence and social capital, or the affordability of work experience and internship placements, or flexibility to accommodate family responsibilities.

The new frameworks that are being developed are successfully addressing some fundamental issues related to equality and performance, including considering whether to move away from A Levels as a qualifying criterion and the use of contextual recruitment. However, the concerns raised about elements of the new SQE illustrate that longstanding barriers may still be built-in to new recruitment criteria.

Alternative routes into the law sector via apprenticeships are a valid point of entry for those young people who have not gone to

Finally, a focus on developing and maintaining inclusive cultures where every candidate feels comfortable in the company no matter what their background or circumstances, including those relating to gender, sexuality, ethnicity and disability, is crucial to ensuring that equality of opportunity is available to everyone.

6.3 Progression Aligning with: Goal 6 Fair Career Progression career progression 6 Fair

The opportunity for career advancement for all employees based on ability and potential, rather than social capital is integral to closing the progression gap and levelling up the law sector. It also appears to be the most significant challenge that is facing City law firms, including those taking part in this project.

There is a range of work being carried out to facilitate more targeted outreach and more effective recruitment practices so that the opportunity to work in a big City law firm is extended to those from less advantaged communities. A commitment to improving retention and progression rates for all employees is widespread among the participating law firms but there does not appear to be the same evidence that it is as successful. The degree of success is often too dependent on the support of senior partners who may be reluctant to share their own stories and personal histories. Mentoring and networking programmes, often targeted at specific diversity groups, pay gap reporting and an intentional ambition to instil a culture of inclusiveness all help to break down some of the barriers which prevent employees feeling that they fit into a particular company.

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R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S

7. Recommendations R1: Measurement and Reporting Firms should commit to both holding data and transparently reporting the data surrounding outreach, recruitment and progression.

There are currently vast variations in the level of data that is collected and measured; alongside an absence in reporting across all member firms of Levelling Up Law in which some are more advanced in their data collection and reporting than others.

Both measuring performance on diversity - and reporting it - will assign accountability, measure the impact of initiatives, and, given the principle of ‘what gets measured gets done’, will likely introduce a new Key Performance Indicators which will be followed by an annual improvement in each firm’s performance on diversity and inclusion.

Firms should therefore commit to measuring and being transparent on outreach, recruitment and progression data for socioeconomic, ethnicity and gender characteristics.

Firms should also adopt the architecture of the Levelling Up Goals and subsequent metrics, to consider benchmarking their performance in contributing to the levelling up agenda. Firms will be involved in the Levelling Up Goals’ Measurement Task Force, which is shaping the metrics that will define sustainability reporting of the future, as well as the ‘S in ESG’ and the contribution of business to levelling up Britain.

It is clear within the sectors and industries that have excelled on performance in diversity and inclusion such as some of the key accountancy firms – that accountability through measurement and reporting has been used as a fundamental means to get there.

This will enable a benchmark on an annual basis; from which the expectation will be annual improvement.

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R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S

R2: Outcomes & Impact It is recommended that law firms form ‘opportunity bridges’ with participating universities, committing a pool of opportunities for talented students at the institutions. This will be delivered through a pioneering ‘Open Door’ platform.

Open Door will take the form of an online platform being developed in partnership with one of the Purpose Coalition’s strategic partners, one of the world’s largest recruitment agencies, with the aim of connecting students at our universities with placement and recruitment opportunities in the firms.

Its aim is to see students having the opportunity to take up placements within firms as early as the next round of vacation schemes and work experience placements; and to drive real change and impact on the ground.

Through the Levelling Up Law Coalition, firms involved will pioneer a new approach to creating open talent pipelines for diverse recruits, creating direct bridges to opportunity for those in the least privileged communities and Open the Door of the law sector to even more young people.

The mission of the Open Door Platforms is to help under-represented communities, enter professions and roles that previously have seemed closed off. Powered in partnership with the Adecco Group, our aim is clear: to open the door to recruitment pipelines and access schemes to young people across the UK from diverse backgrounds, helping leading employers to reflect and engage broader society.

Initially those employers will be made up of leading law firms which are building on their own efforts on this agenda by pioneering this new approach. We will work with young people of all backgrounds, specifically at 15 of the UK’s most diverse universities in our Purpose Coalition.

Our university partners are carefully selected, focused on diverse intakes and areas of poor social mobility, with superb outreach into schools and colleges already - meaning employers will be able to widen their recruitment and work experience pools, helping to bring further diversity into firms as well as helping closing the opportunity gap and level up parts of the UK that need it most.

R3: Advocacy In addition to the commitments on measurement, reporting and impact; member firms should look to encourage multiplying the impact of their own organisations by becoming wider advocates for strong practices on social mobility and diversity.

As part of this suggestion, Levelling Up Law participating firms will form a Levelling Up Law Coalition, which as part of the wider Purpose Coalition of leading businesses will be an advocate for progress in the legal sector and beyond, as well as a body to share experiences of progress on social impact.

As a coalition of responsible and purpose-led firms, the Coalition will draw on its own experiences of creating an action plan to further make the case for other firms and businesses across sectors to follow.

The Levelling Up Law Coalition will also have frequent events where the Coalition members can network, as well as regular roundtables and events in Westminster with policy makers to set out thought leadership on the wider challenges and issues facing businesses on social mobility and opportunity.

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LEVELLING UP