Birmingham City Law Firms Promise Over £350,000 to College of Law/Sutton Trust Diversity Scheme

January 18 2008

Five leading law firms have pledged more than £350,000 over the next five years to help finance a major new £2m initiative to attract fresh talent to the legal profession. Allen and Overy, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Lovells have committed both time and money to the joint College of Law and Sutton Trust 'Pathways to Law' initiative.

The scheme  is targeting students interested in law from state schools and non professional backgrounds who will be the first in their family to go to university.  Crucially, participating law firms will provide work experience placements to the 250 students who enter the programme each year.

The firms' donations will bolster the £1.25m already donated by The College of Law and the £250,000 granted by the Sutton Trust. The Trust, which is managing the implementation of Pathways to Law, is now in discussion with other city law firms, and those in major English cities, regarding their participation in the scheme.

Five leading universities - Leeds, LSE, Manchester, Southampton and Warwick - are in the final stages of recruiting and registering their first 250 Pathways students, with the initial events taking place before the end of last month. The universities were selected because of the reputation of their law courses, their record of commitment to widening participation and their existing links with the College of Law's five centres in Birmingham, Chester, Guildford, London and York. The scheme follows a pilot at the University of Edinburgh.

The universities will deliver a variety of academic and skills-based sessions for the Pathways students throughout their two year participation in the scheme, and each Pathways student will be allocated a current LLB student as a mentor. Students will also receive detailed advice, guidance and support throughout the university application process.

In a joint statement Professor Nigel Savage, Chief Executive of the College, and Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: 'The contributions from law firms are especially welcome as they will enable us to enhance the scheme still further through national events and web-based support packages, and may enable more students to benefit from Pathways in the future. But even more important than that is the authoritative weight that such firms bring to the project, showing their determination to widen access to the law.  Their help in terms of providing work placements within their firms will be especially valuable.'

The joint initiative was prompted by a disturbing report by the Sutton Trust published in 2005 on the educational backgrounds of the UK's top solicitors, barristers and judges. This found that three out of four top judges, more than two-thirds of top barristers and more than half the partners at leading law firms had been educated at private schools, which now account for 7% of the school population.

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