City firms launch scheme for less-advantaged students, but only for those in London and the South

A group of City law firms have launched an initiative to give opportunities to less-privileged students and shake off their elitist reputation.

The scheme is called City Solicitors Horizons and it will provide work experience and mentoring to 50 undergraduates from less-advantaged backgrounds annually. As the Times reports, 18 firms are taking part, including UK and US-headquartered practices. They are:

• Addleshaw Goddard;
• Baker & McKenzie;
• CMS Cameron McKenna;
• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton;
• Eversheds;
• Herbert Smith Freehills;
• Holman Fenwick Willan;
• Linklaters;
• Macfarlanes;
• Mayer Brown;
• Pinsent Masons;
• Reed Smith;
• Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom;
• Stephenson Harwood;
• Stewarts Law;
• Sullivan & Cromwell;
• Travers Smith; and
• White & Case.

Recruitment of the first intake of students will commence in January, with announcements of who is successful to follow in April, ahead of an initial training course at the end of the summer term. The scheme is open to first-year law students who are currently coming to the end of their first term at university – this means that it fails to encompass students coming to law via the conversion course, the Graduate Diploma in Law. The scheme is also only open to students studying in London or the South of England, meaning that it is far from comprehensively inclusive.

A range of organisations are supporting the programme, including the City of London Law Society, the City Solicitors' Educational Trust and the Legal Education Foundation. Roger Finbrow, chairman of the City Solicitors’ Educational Trust’s management committee, commented: "Support and assistance for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are already reading law at universities and wish to join the legal profession is noticeably lacking and many of these students still find it difficult to obtain training contracts."

To find out more and apply in January, head to the City Solicitors Horizons website.