Page 20 - Prime - Marking Ten Years

Our Impact: Press and Social Mobility Index
“Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.” Leilah Janah
The legal profession has historically been an easy target for critics and it, and indeed PRIME itself, are often the focus of adverse media coverage. It is worth noting, therefore,
when there are good news stories, and there have been many.
To mention just a few, in 2020 alone: Katie Faulds of Crasner Consulting wrote
an inspiring article looking at the current state of social mobility within law firms and
how it has improved over time. Katie gave some insightful tips for law firms trying to be more socially
inclusive, the first of which was to sign up to PRIME.
Molly Lewis sat on the panel at Legal Cheek’s virtual event “How to become a City lawyer in a post-COVID world”. Attended by close to 1,000
prospective lawyers, Molly and the panel answered questions on the opportunities and challenges ahead and discussed diversity in the workplace. Following the panel
discussion, Arun joined Molly at the virtual mini-law fair and video networking event. It was a fantastic opportunity to engage with lawyers of the future.
David Ampaw and Arun Sohan-Pall recorded a podcast about the importance of work experience for both students and firms, with ReImagine LAW, which seeks to help students navigate an increasingly complex set of career path choices, and build the mind-set of being a life-long learner.
As we all know, research has consistently shown that people from more affluent backgrounds occupy an unequal number of the best jobs in the market and that employers tend to disproportionately employ graduates who went to private schools and elite universities.
The Social Mobility Index, launched in 2017, is an important benchmarking initiative ranking Britain’s employers on the actions they are taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds, showcasing progress towards improving social mobility. Its aim is to encourage firms to share their initiatives and progress in becoming more inclusive employers and to reveal which sectors and companies are taking the issue of social mobility most seriously.
PRIME was incredibly proud to see 18 of our member firms listed in the Top 75 employers for social mobility in 2020 and heartened to see our own initiatives reflected in the Index’s report. Whilst this is not why we do it, it is gratifying to see members’ hard work and commitment being recognised publicly.
Key recommendations for 2021 and beyond: to prioritise opportunities in social mobility cold spots and to continue to offer work experience placements that are opento everyone.
This just goes to ratify our work with MyKindaFuture, engaging with overlooked and hard-to-reach, talented young people, and offering them the opportunities they deserve. We know that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds need the opportunity to hear about career options and begin to believe that law is a viable option for them. All our members remain committed to improving access to the legal profession through work experience.