Driving socio-economic diversity in the workplace

It is useful to understand the socio-economic background of your workforce at different levels of seniority and across different departments. This will help you identify whether you have any gaps across your firm so you can take focused action to remove any barriers.

National benchmarks can be useful when measuring and analysing your data. You can also use our law firm diversity data tool to compare your data to other law firms.

It is important to monitor diversity through recruitment, from application to appointment as well as retention rates and progression. Setting aspirational targets at each stage to maintain focus will help drive progress. Our recruitment, retention and progression resource has more detail on how to do this.

Checklist

• Analyse your workforce data to identify gaps and barriers.
• Compare your data with national benchmarks and other law firms.
• Monitor diversity across recruitment, progression and retention.
• Set and review aspirational targets.
• Read our resources on recruitment, retention and progression.

There are flexible pathways to qualifying as a solicitor through the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). Our objectives when introducing the SQE were:

• to provide greater assurance of consistent high standards
• to encourage the development of new and diverse pathways to qualification by removing artificial and unjustifiable barriers.

Our report on the SQE shows that around 37% of candidates are from less privileged backgrounds.

We provide information about the different pathways to qualification for aspiring solicitors, including the solicitor apprenticeship. The solicitor apprenticeship route has opened up opportunities for firms to recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds. Our data shows that solicitor apprentice candidates taking the SQE are more likely than non-apprentices to come from lower socio-economic groups and that apprentices are performing well in SQE assessments overall.

Potential employers can be confident that whatever their route to qualification, all candidates have to meet the same high standards to pass the SQE. Over time this assurance should help to dispel the perception that non-traditional routes are less valuable, a factor noted in the LSB's research referenced above.

Our research into differential outcomes in legal professional assessments identified that legal work experience can be difficult to find for students who don't have connections in the sector. Lack of access to these opportunities can have a direct impact on confidence, which in turn, can negatively impact the performance of these students.

The research highlights actions that law firms can take to improve opportunities for aspiring solicitors. Many law firms have already identified the benefits of reaching out to talented individuals through partnerships with schools and universities. Some law firms offer recruitment workshops to local colleges or schools to encourage young people from a lower socio-economic background to consider law as a career.

Following the research, we took forward an action to develop a toolkit for law firms and law schools which outlines the kinds of partnerships that firms can initiate, including case studies and good practice. It is important to ensure that these initiatives are monitored and evaluated over time to assess the impact on those who take part. This will then inform any future work.

Practical examples

Weightmans LLP – student internships

Weightmans LLP works in partnership with Everton in the Community to offer internships to students from schools in areas with socio-economic challenges. This initiative was launched in January 2023. Since then, more than 100 young people have competed for a place, and 15 participants have secured an internship with the law firm to date. One intern also went on to join Weightmans as a solicitor degree apprentice in September 2025.

Macfarlanes – undergraduate support

Macfarlanes supports three Brunel University law students annually through a training scholarship aimed at those who meet their social-mobility criteria. The students are fully funded from the first year of their law degree onwards (including all tuition fees. The firm also provides paid work experience, a paid placement year and mentoring from senior lawyers throughout. Brunel University is 6th in Sutton Trust's top universities for social mobility.

Ashurst Perkins Coie – ACCESS programme

Ashurst Perkins Coie run their ACCESS Ashurst Perkins Coie programme in partnership with PRIME. Students from a low socio-economic background across the UK are given an opportunity to learn about a career in law through a year-long programme of work. This consists of shadowing, skills workshops and mentoring support. Read more about their work.

Checklist

Use this checklist to help you provide targeted access to legal work experience:

• Review barriers to accessing legal work experience and identify groups who may need additional support
• Build partnerships with schools, colleges, universities and community organisations to reach a wider range of aspiring solicitors
• Offer accessible work experience opportunities, including mentoring
• Monitor participation and outcomes to understand the impact of your initiatives and identify areas for improvement.

Using inclusive recruitment practices can help you access the widest talent pool and prevent you excluding candidates from a less privileged socio-economic background.

Many law firms use contextual recruitment which involves considering a person's background when assessing their academic experience and qualifications during recruitment. This helps identify talented candidates who might otherwise have been overlooked. Using this was one of the recommendations highlighted in our research on differential outcomes in professional assessments.

Avoid relying solely on past educational outcomes, such as A-level results and university outcomes, when recruiting for work experience placements and trainee roles. Socio-economic background and other factors can impact educational outcomes, so you could be excluding talented individuals if you restrict your recruitment in this way. In the same way, favouring students who have attended particular universities will narrow your recruitment pool.

It is also good practice to consider your job requirements carefully. Where possible, broaden your approach to allow applicants to apply if they have equivalent qualifications to those you have specified, or relevant work experience. This will make sure you do not exclude those who have not had conventional schooling experiences or who may have been educated outside the UK. Equivalent qualifications can be checked with relevant training providers.

Our recruitment, retention and progression resource page provides further practical tips for how you can improve your recruitment practices.

Checklist

Use this checklist to help you review your recruitment practices in your firm:

• Use inclusive recruitment practices to widen your talent pool, including
  contextual recruitment
• Review and broaden your entry requirements so you don't exclude candidates with non-traditional backgrounds
• Avoid relying only on academic results or attendance at specific universities.

There is a lot of support for employers who want to develop their approach to socio-economic diversity in their workplace. We worked with the City of London Taskforce to develop the five-point pathway for breaking the class barrier in 2022. The key recommendations for employers include:

• assigning a senior leader responsible for socio-economic diversity
• setting targets based on your data
• taking focused action to increase socio-economic diversity at senior levels and monitoring what works.

The Social Mobility Commission's Employer's Toolkit for the Financial and Professional Services Sector was published in December 2020. The toolkit outlines practical steps you can take to remove barriers for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and improve diversity and inclusion in your firm. It offers guidance on how to move from 'developing' to 'optimising' the impact of your work.

Encouraging an inclusive culture is important. It is useful to talk about class within the workplace. These open conversations can help improve firm-wide understanding of the barriers that people face accessing educational and career opportunities. For tips about how to start these conversations, see The Social Mobility Commission's webinar 'Let's Talk about Class'. This webinar explores what a healthy, inclusive conversation about class and socio-economic background looks like.

It is also important to be aware of accent bias, which can undermine an inclusive culture. See the Commission's webinar 'Accents in the Workplace' which explores how you can raise awareness of this issue in your own organisation. It highlights steps you can take to ensure that the focus is on the knowledge and skills of your employee and candidates, not their accent.

Research by the Bridge Group mentioned above, found that employees in participating firms felt a disconnect between inclusion policies and their lived experiences. Staff networks can bridge this gap, offering a place to highlight the importance of socio-economic diversity, providing a safe space to share lived experience, and promoting inclusion through insightful events. Support from senior leaders can also help demonstrate that socio-economic inclusion is valued and taken seriously across the organisation.

Exit interviews can also provide a valuable and clearer picture of employees' views around these issues.

Checklist

Use this checklist to remove barriers and encourage socio-economic inclusion in your firm:

• Review sector research and toolkits to inform your approach
• Encourage open conversations about class and accent bias
• Utilise staff networks to share knowledge and lived experience
• Engage senior leaders in staff networks, events and inclusion initiatives.

There are several schemes within the legal sector which bring firms together to promote and develop social mobility.

Practical examples

Social Mobility Business Partnership – insights into a professional workplace

Social Mobility Business Partnership (SMBP) works with organisations to provide a 'work insights week' to students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. SMBP also provides ongoing support to alumni students interested in a career in law, business or finance.

PRIME – law firm alliance

PRIME is an alliance of law firms across the UK and Republic of Ireland, determined to improve access to and socio-economic diversity within the legal profession. PRIME members make a commitment to providing students with same high-quality work experience no matter what firm they are at. This involves providing careers advice, financial assistance to support with attending work experience, developing students' key skills and more.

Aspiring Solicitors – diverse recruitment

Aspiring Solicitors works with law firms and legal teams to support their recruitment of diverse talent. It also offers support to all under-represented groups in the profession. On average, Aspiring Solicitors helps their members secure 500 training contracts a year. Aspiring Solicitors also runs the Virtual Diversity Law Fair, inviting a diverse group of students to speak with leading law firms in the UK.

Sutton Trust's Social Mobility in the Workplace guide provides advice on how you can make best use of the social mobility data, and how to set up internships and apprenticeships.

The Law Society's social mobility ambassadors scheme promotes role models from non-traditional backgrounds who have achieved their ambitions and are willing to support their peers within the profession.

The Bridge Group's report Effective practice in supporting socio-economic inclusion in the legal sector provides a toolkit for firms to consider, focusing on data, access and recruitment, progression and leadership and accountability.   

The Social Mobility Commission's Financial and professional services toolkit also provides useful advice and initiatives which can help.

See our other resources to support with encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.