Shoosmiths announces equal opportunities partnership with Aspiring Solicitors

Top national firm Shoosmiths has announced a new partnership with Aspiring Solicitors, an organisation which works to improve diversity in the legal profession by helping talented candidates from less-privileged backgrounds to improve their skills and access opportunities.

The partnership should be of real benefit to candidates, as Shoosmiths looks to build on its already-admirable commitment to providing equality of opportunity for those applying for a training contracts through a CV-blind recruitment policy. Aspiring Solicitors is also this website’s diversity partner.

Chris White, founder of Aspiring Solicitors, commented: “Having worked with Shoosmiths at a number of student employability events in the past, we are sure this partnership will prove beneficial in opening up the accessibility of legal careers to aspiring lawyers. The diversity and inclusion values at Shoosmiths mirror our own and we look forward to what this partnership will accomplish.”

Samantha Hope, Shoosmiths' graduate recruitment manager, said: “We’re excited to be building upon the success of more than 12 years [of] CV-blind interviewing at the graduate assessment centres, which removes the potential for bias on the grounds of gender, ethnicity or social background. Having recently dropped the academic entry requirements for a training contract, we’re not afraid to stand out from the crowd in order to attract the best possible talent.”