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 organisational, 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.
