Must say HOB wasn’t aware of this forthcoming requirement for UK law firms …, Interesting and worth a read at? People Management .co.uk
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http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/07/law-firm-publishes-data-on-social-mobility-of-staff.htm
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Linklaters one of first to reveal diversity results ahead of new rules for profession
Law firm Linklaters has published data on the social mobility of its employees for the first time ? in advance of new rules which are set to require all employers in the sector to do so.
The data, published yesterday on Linklaters? website, reveals the proportion of employees of different seniority that went to fee-paying schools, and the proportion that were the first generation in their family to have a university education. For example, it was shown that 38 per cent of partners, 31 per cent of associates and 34 per cent of trainees at the firm attended independent schools, while 53 per cent of partners and 22 per cent of trainees were the first in their family to go to university.
The statistics were published along with wider diversity data on gender, ethnicity, religion, disability and sexual orientation.
?We?ve been committed for some time to playing our part in widening opportunities to those from more diverse backgrounds ? since Alan Milburn?s report [Fair Access to the Professions, published in 2009] it?s something that all law firms have been thinking about,? Linklaters? HR director Jill King told PM. ?We thought that publishing the data now would create a baseline for us to monitor progress. Other firms have measured the social mobility of their graduate entrants but we believe we are the first to take that further and publish data for all our people.?
The data should ?help dispel some of the myths? that law firms are full of people who went to public schools and Oxbridge, said King. Linklaters made its own judgments about which questions to ask in its survey because there is not yet any official guidance within the profession about the correct way to measure social mobility, she added.
The Legal Services Board confirmed this month that law firms and barrister?s chambers will be required to publicise data on their website about the socio-economic background of their workforce, together with statistics on age, race, gender and disabilities, as part of plans to widen access.
Employers in the sector have been told to draw up plans for collecting the data by January and to publish the results by December 2012. Greater transparency about the data will help ?maintain momentum, measure progress and better inform consumers? as the professions seeks to improve access, according to LSB chief executive Chris Kenny.
There will be no requirement from the LSB to publish data on sexual orientation or religion, because of a belief that these strands are more sensitive and could risk ?outing? gay employees. However, Linklaters includes this information in its data. King pointed out that the survey provided a ?prefer not to say? option, that all data provided was kept confidential and that the firm had taken advice from gay rights organisation Stonewall on the best way to handle the issue of sexual orientation.
As part of its own efforts to widen social mobility, Linklaters has worked with two not-for-profit organisations, The Learning Trust and Inspire, to engage with schools in deprived areas, offering work experience and citizenship lessons. Meanwhile, it is also leading efforts to increase female representation among its senior lawyers: currently, 22 per cent of its UK partners are women.
