Social Mobility

Social Mobility Action Plan

Developed in consultation with our Social Mobility Network, our Social Mobility Action Plan captures the progress we have made to date and sets out how we will build on this work. Our commitment to increasing social mobility, reducing barriers to the profession and supporting people to reach their full potential has also been recognised by the Social Mobility Employers Index, which ranked us as a Top 75 Employer for Social Mobility in 2025.

Social Mobility Network

Our Social Mobility Network promotes social mobility across the Firm through awareness raising, education and support for initiatives such as our Career Start programme.

These activities help broaden access to the legal profession and support the retention and progression of colleagues from all socio-economic backgrounds. The Network meets regularly and includes members from across the Firm, at all levels and from a range of socio-economic backgrounds.

Other initiatives include:

• We voluntarily report on our socio-economic pay gap, which can be accessed here.
• We use Rare’s contextual recruitment tool in our Early Talent recruitment, which allows us to see the best talent by understanding the context of their achievements – for example, if someone attended an underperforming school.
• Our partnership with Aspiring Solicitors helps us attract and recruit talent from underrepresented groups, including those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. A number of colleagues also act as AS Mentors, offering insight and advice to help the AS members improve their career prospects, access training contracts and other opportunities, and ultimately increase diversity in the legal profession.
• Our Career Start Programme provides mentoring, work experience and development opportunities to students from less advantaged backgrounds. We also host a number of Insight Days and Career in Law Work Experience Days, aimed at increasing understanding of careers within the legal profession.
• Each year, we mark Social Mobility Awareness Day to raise awareness of the barriers that can affect access to, and progression within, the legal profession. In 2025, we ran a video campaign and held a panel event which shared the stories of colleagues from different socio-economic backgrounds, creating space for honest conversation, reflection and learning across the Firm.
• Following feedback from our Social Mobility Network that colleagues wanted to better understand the impact of accent bias, we held a Firm-wide session on this topic for Social Mobility Awareness Day 2026. An academic joined us to explore how accent bias can shape perceptions of professionalism, credibility and belonging, and how it can create barriers to access and progression. The session encouraged colleagues to reflect on assumptions linked to accent and consider practical ways to create a more inclusive culture.
• Reverse mentoring programmes help our Firm to foster an inclusive culture by creating opportunities for people to share different perspectives, lived experiences and knowledge.
• We facilitate Solicitor Apprenticeships to offer different routes into the profession.