18 City firms will take on a total of 50 underprivileged undergraduates next year after the government criticised top tier law firms for applying a de facto "poshness test" to graduate recruits.
As RollOnFriday reported in June, a study of social mobility concluded that working class applicants are frequently rejected by elite firms because they lack the soft skills and experiences on polo fields required for entry.
In response, 18 City firms including Baker & McKenzie, Eversheds, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Pinsent Masons & Travers Smith have signed up to a scheme called City Solicitors Horizons. Under the initiative, they will provide a three year programme of mentoring, work experience and training sessions to a total of 50 undergraduates per year from disadvantaged backgrounds.
While there are hopes that the initiative will one day be expanded to other parts of the country, the pilot scheme is only open to law students at universities in London and the south of England, so that participants won't incur heavy travel and accommodation costs. In order to qualify, candidates must either be first generation university students, educated at non-selective state schools, or come from a socially disadvantaged background (which CSH says includes having received financial support at school or having come from a single-parent family). Students must also be "committed" to joining the legal profession and have, "in the judgement of their university", a "strong potential to succeed academically".
The scheme opens for applications in January. In the meantime, gauge your chances here:
Do YOU pass the Poshness Test?
1. Prince Philip greets you with a hearty, "Hello!" Do you:
a) Prostrate yourself before him
b) Wonder what he's doing in your bedroom
c) Have him whipped for not addressing you as m'lud
2. You are at a fancy dinner. Do you:
a) Run into the corner with the roast chicken and growl at anyone who approaches
b) Muddle up the lobster fork and the foie gras spoon
c) Upend the table, vomit on the guests, assault the host with an ivory cane and retire to your club for opium
3. The object of your affections agrees to a date. Do you take them:
a) To your favourite mine
b) To the Tate using your mum's membership card
c) To a pawn shop where you sell their watch because your gambling debts are massive and the roof of Fuggwit Manor costs £70,000 a year to maintain
4. An interviewer asks for your greatest weakness. Do you reply:
a) "The plague boils"
b) "Whole Foods"
c) "My Habsburg lip and admiration for Hitler, you swine"
Mostly As: You are a serf. Mostly Bs: You're quite posh but not at Farrers. Mostly Cs: Congratulations, you will be first against the wall
Tip Off ROF
As RollOnFriday reported in June, a study of social mobility concluded that working class applicants are frequently rejected by elite firms because they lack the soft skills and experiences on polo fields required for entry.
In response, 18 City firms including Baker & McKenzie, Eversheds, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Pinsent Masons & Travers Smith have signed up to a scheme called City Solicitors Horizons. Under the initiative, they will provide a three year programme of mentoring, work experience and training sessions to a total of 50 undergraduates per year from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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"And so David is demonstrating what lawyers do when they forget their briefcase" |
While there are hopes that the initiative will one day be expanded to other parts of the country, the pilot scheme is only open to law students at universities in London and the south of England, so that participants won't incur heavy travel and accommodation costs. In order to qualify, candidates must either be first generation university students, educated at non-selective state schools, or come from a socially disadvantaged background (which CSH says includes having received financial support at school or having come from a single-parent family). Students must also be "committed" to joining the legal profession and have, "in the judgement of their university", a "strong potential to succeed academically".
The scheme opens for applications in January. In the meantime, gauge your chances here:
Do YOU pass the Poshness Test?
1. Prince Philip greets you with a hearty, "Hello!" Do you:
a) Prostrate yourself before him
b) Wonder what he's doing in your bedroom
c) Have him whipped for not addressing you as m'lud
2. You are at a fancy dinner. Do you:
a) Run into the corner with the roast chicken and growl at anyone who approaches
b) Muddle up the lobster fork and the foie gras spoon
c) Upend the table, vomit on the guests, assault the host with an ivory cane and retire to your club for opium
3. The object of your affections agrees to a date. Do you take them:
a) To your favourite mine
b) To the Tate using your mum's membership card
c) To a pawn shop where you sell their watch because your gambling debts are massive and the roof of Fuggwit Manor costs £70,000 a year to maintain
4. An interviewer asks for your greatest weakness. Do you reply:
a) "The plague boils"
b) "Whole Foods"
c) "My Habsburg lip and admiration for Hitler, you swine"
Mostly As: You are a serf. Mostly Bs: You're quite posh but not at Farrers. Mostly Cs: Congratulations, you will be first against the wall
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Nothing says "I love you, firm" like a good mark in the RollOnFriday Firm of the Year survey |
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I'll have to encourage them to say haitch and speak badly so they can get on the scheme.
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A bit of both, I suspect.
As much as anything, it boils down, I suspect, to the willingness of the "serfs" taking part to buckle down and work hard.
I recall Wragges had a similar scheme for the unemployed/ homeless, where they were mentored to come in as receptionists, etc, in Birmingham, which they actually implemented well, and led to a few people working very hard and getting jobs there.
Offering opportunities to people who want to work, often desperately, is fine and admirable. Virtue signalling to fill some kind of twitter-friendly quota: Not so much.