Following the recent political drive to create social mobility in the professions , new research has now found that lawyers are from more privileged backgrounds than those working in other professional jobs.

The Lawyer concluded that the legal profession is even more elitist than other professions and the gap has widened in the last decade after comparing the average monthly family income for lawyers born in 1958 with those born in 1970.

The research was conducted for The Lawyer by the Centre for Market and Public Organisation at Bristol University found, taking wealth to be an indicator of social standing, that:

" The average family income for lawyers born in 1958 was £1,900 a month, 22 per cent higher than the average for other professionals.

For lawyers born in 1970 this gap had increased to 27 per cent, with family income rising to £2,345 compared with £1,845 for the families of doctors, accountants and architects.

Former Bar Council chairman Geoffrey Vos QC, who sits on the Government’s social mobility commission, said: “I fully accept that the law has a disproportionate number of people from a privileged background. That’s what we’re trying to change.”"

Whilst there is clearly some merit to the conclusion, is family income the only factor relevant in creating an elitist pathway? Furthermore, as one commentator put it at ATL :

" The law, especially Biglaw, doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you get into if you have family money. With a trust fund and access to the best education in the world, it seems like you could find something better to do with your time than working 2,000 – 3,000 hours a year."