On Social Mobility Day, a day to champion equitable employment opportunities for all, Napthens reflects on the steps it’s taken to recognise and increase awareness of the importance of social mobility.
As a firm, we want to increase social mobility in the legal profession, increasing pathways to a career in law and awareness of those pathways.
Following on from our participation in the Breaking down barriers to law project, which resulted in us presenting the results at a prestigious event at the House of Commons, we’ve continued our support to open up law to more young people.
One of the areas we’ve pledged to support is working with a broader range of educational institutions to promote careers in law.
We have hosted multiple in-person and online insight events aimed at providing further information about life at Napthens, a career in law and how to apply for opportunities.
In May we attended Cardinal Newman FE College in Preston and presented our solicitor apprenticeship opportunity to 30 A level students.
Amy Wright, who joined as an apprentice in 2023, attended alongside our talent acquisition business partner, Daniel Grinsted, to host an informative Q&A session about life as Napthens first solicitor apprentice and the degree qualification that forms part of it.
They both took part in the recording of a video for Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub to promote apprenticeships in the local region.
This will be used to support a project running in Lancashire with the Department for Education and UCAS, aiming to support more students who wish to secure a solicitor apprenticeship.
Later this month (June) we will be attending Burnley College to deliver another insight event with A level law students, alongside colleagues Nicola Ciraolo and trainee, Kaitlyn Mitchell.
And we’ll be hosting an insight event in partnership with Lancaster University. This is the first professional networking trip organised for students from wider backgrounds.
We’re already seeing positive results from our ongoing campaign, with 50% of the candidates shortlisted for our 2024 solicitor apprenticeship being first generation students who attended state schools.
There is still work to be done, but we’re pleased with the progress made and the impact it’s already having on the next generation of legal professionals.
