Social Mobility and the Law
Equality in the workplace is a subject that crops up pretty regularly these days and it is a area that the professions are particularly sensitive to. Click for some previous posts on the matter. Now the Government has decided it wants to set out on a social mobility “crusade” which will also fall under this banner. Ministers have apparently identified limited access to the professions including law, medicine, the senior civil service, media, finance and the upper ranks of the Armed …
Equality in the workplace is a subject that crops up pretty regularly these days and it is a area that the professions are particularly sensitive to. Click for some previous posts on the matter. Now the Government has decided it wants to set out on a social mobility “crusade” which will also fall under this banner.
Ministers have apparently identified limited access to the professions including law, medicine, the senior civil service, media, finance and the upper ranks of the Armed Forces, as a major obstacle. Ed Balls, the Education Secretary has stated, “No child should be held back by their background, so we will now do more to break the link between disadvantage and achievement.”
So what are the implications for the legal profession???
According to The Lawyer , the Law Society and Bar Council are set to contribute to a review of social mobility led by the government’s social mobility chief, Alan Milburn. However, Law Society figures show that 59.9% of entrants into the legal profession were women and 22.6% were from a minority ethnic group last year which compares well with 52.6% and 16.6% for the same groups ten years ago. So whilst the above measures of diversity are relatively simple to quantify and appear to show the profession in a good light, what for social mobility?
Watch this space…
January 14, 2009
Eqaulity is always a positive thing….
im just suprised that female entrance seems incredibly high!
59.9%
January 14, 2009
I smell legalese!
‘entrance to the legal profession’ means what exactly?
trainees, associates & partners.
or paralegals + secs…
rather vague i must say
January 14, 2009
I second that.
something does not seem right here
but who cares really
January 14, 2009
This is just a blatant headline grabbing piece of Nu Labour social engineering b.s. in a reaching out attempt as they slump in the polls. Having played a major part in flushing us all down the proverbial toilet and increasing the wealth divide with it, they are obviously trying to appeal to voters who should rightly have no faith in them. The fact that Tony Blair is said to have made £15m since leaving office exemplifies the hypocracy of this Labour government.
January 14, 2009
Whilst I want to avoid the politics of this, I would like to point out that I thought the legal profession was well on the way to becoming a good example of meritocracy. Many of my peers have not come from any sort of privilege and have made it at all levels. Do they want to force us into accepting the likes of Frank off Shameless just because he is poor, jobless and from a high-rise in Manchester? I’m sure he would make the perfect tax advisor at an MC firm!?
January 14, 2009
“I’ll have a pint and two eees please Kev; whilst you’r at it could yoa finish that response lettaaw to Gazza at Linklataaawws”
January 14, 2009
I work in a City firm and I’m originally from Manc. My origins are not quite a Shameless-style estate but I was hardly privileged. If you want it you can get it these days; you just need to be focused and determined. I am all for helping people who need some direction and guidance to ensure they are able to get that focus and determination in the first place.
January 14, 2009
I just like the picture