23 firms back work experience scheme but pressure will be on to earn support from schools and profession

Despite already being touted as a landmark for the industry, the law firms behind the initiative aimed at improving access to the profession are hoping to substantially expand the number of firms 
backing the scheme.

The scheme launched with 23 major firms across the UK and Ireland but the backers of the project to hand work experience to under-privileged children believe it will be essential to secure the active support of more law firms before addressing the considerable challenge of building links and co-operation with a broad base of schools nationally.

The project, dubbed PRIME, marks the first time that so many large law firms have come together in a comparable initiative, with the firms involved aiming to hand out around 2,500 
work experience placements a year to state school children from disadvantaged backgrounds by 2015.

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The initiative, which is the result of discussions held earlier this year by a number of City law firms including Allen & Overy (A&O) and Norton Rose, has also received input from the Cabinet Office and is supported by the Sutton Trust and the law societies of England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Each firm signing up to PRIME must commit to providing an annual number of work experience placements to eligible students that is equivalent to 50% of its trainee intake, with each placement comprising at least 30-35 hours of relevant work experience.

The scheme targets state school students aged 14-18 who would either be the first generation of their family to go to university or who come from a family below the income threshold for free school meals. The key objective is for participants to realise that a career in the legal sector – whether as a lawyer or in legal support – is a realistic ambition.

A&O senior partner David Morley commented: "It is harder now than it was 30 years ago to get into the legal profession if you're from an average or below-average income family. As a profession, we must change that.

"By collaborating across the profession, PRIME will create a step change in the legal sector's commitment to fairer access, giving more students their first insight into the wide variety of career opportunities available in the legal sector. I would urge all law firms to join us in supporting PRIME."

The programme's progress will be externally monitored by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), which will provide an annual performance report, while also working with the Department for Education. The NFER will also be involved in plans to assess the long-term impact of the initiative in improving access to the profession.

Norton Rose chairman Stephen Parish said: "What PRIME can provide in terms of support, structure and commitment is absolutely key to the way in which we can all benefit from such a programme.

"It is fair to say that the legal profession has not been particularly forthcoming in relation to social mobility in the past, and this gives us an opportunity to get involved."

He added: "Social mobility is not about looking good in front of clients or the media, it is about providing access to a wider group – a more diverse group – of talented people, and that is something that we can all benefit from."

At Clifford Chance, the project is being managed by people partner Laura King (pictured).

She said: "We will have to wait and see but surely it is better for us to all work together to try to achieve something than doing nothing at all."

The project will attempt to overcome much-publicised problems with social mobility and the law. A survey of almost 50,000 City professionals by legal recruitment consultancy Laurence Simons at the end of last year found that 15% of lawyers were educated at the UK's 250 public schools, compared with 2% of the general population.

The findings came after a 2009 report looking at fair access to the professions, which found that between 1988 and 2004, the proportion of magic circle partners aged under 39 who had been privately educated increased from 59% to 71%.

Other efforts to improve diversity in the profession will see law firms and barristers' chambers forced to publish internal diversity and social mobility statistics on their websites after the Legal Services Board approved plans earlier this summer.

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Background to the initiative

The PRIME project came about after Allen & Overy (A&O) senior partner David Morley invited senior names from a small group of City law firms to the firm's Bishops Square headquarters to hold discussions about improving social mobility.

The group, which initially comprised A&O, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Hogan Lovells, Herbert Smith and Norton Rose, were responding to mounting pressure to improve diversity in the legal profession in the wake of a 2009 Government-backed report into social mobility inalan-milburn-newthe professions, which was compiled by a panel chaired by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn (pictured).

From the point of initial discussions the initiative was expanded to include the 23 members currently signed up – well ahead of the initial expectations – with the number of law firms involved expected to increase over time. Member firms turned to a number of external sources for input including the Cabinet Office, the Sutton Trust and the law societies of England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, but will pay for the scheme themselves. The total cost of the project to date is undisclosed but has been shared between the firms involved. Morley said that the largest cost will be the involvement of the National Foundation for Educational Research, which will follow and monitor the project through an annual progress report, underlining the firms' commitment to achieving tangible results.

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Founding members

Addleshaw Goddard

Allen & Overy

Arthur Cox

Ashurst

Blake Lapthorn

Brodies

Clifford Chance

CMS Cameron McKenna

Dickinson Dees

DLA Piper

Dundas & Wilson

Eversheds

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Herbert Smith

Hogan Lovells

Linklaters

Maclay Murray & Spens

McGrigors

Norton Rose

Pinsent Masons

Shepherd & Wedderburn

Slaughter and May