The legal sector's drive to improve social mobility across its professions stepped up a gear on 2 March 2012, with the launch of the social mobility toolkit.

The Bar Council’s placement week scheme was recognised at the Halsbury Legal Awards in London, winning the award for diversity and inclusion.

I didn’t go to a selective school, but have good A-levels and my ambition is to be a City lawyer – what does this mean for my chances? What are law firms doing to improve the representation of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds?

The Legal Education Foundation has established the Justice First Fellowship Scheme to boost careers in social welfare law; in the first round of recruitment, seven training contracts will be available with host organisations in England and Scotland.

The Social Welfare Solicitors Qualification Fund, which is backed by 18 major law firms, has secured funding for its first cohort of social welfare legal workers to begin their journey to qualifying as solicitors via the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE).

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has revealed that apprentices are achieving top performance levels across the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE), averaging scores that are 8% higher than other candidates on SQE1 and SQE2.  

The number of solicitor apprenticeships has jumped by 40% in just a year, according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) report.

A group of firms in the North East have teamed up to develop a collaborative approach to promoting legal apprenticeships in schools. Meanwhile, international commercial firm Charles Russell Speechlys has launched its solicitor apprenticeship programme, with two apprentices set to join the firm’s London office in September 2017. 

What does it mean to be a solicitor? Am I cut out for the work? Why do I want to be a solicitor rather than a barrister?