When I was at college I was asked the golden question by my teacher: ‘what do you want to do after University?’ I replied: ‘I want to be a barrister.’ He soon crushed my dreams with two harsh words: ‘Don’t bother.’ Not your typical motivational speech, but upon quizzing his pessimistic statement I could see his point: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, and since I had left a state school to attend a sixth form college, the chances of me making it to the bar were slim.
Success in the legal profession is barred by the what is referred to as ‘the old boys network’; in that you could be as thick as two planks, but if your parents paid for you to attend the right schools, or granddad plays golf with a judge your chances will vastly improve. On the other hand, you could have a multitude of fantastic grades, reams of extra curricular attendance and outstanding references, but without the ‘correct’ social and educational background of the privileged classes you will struggle. The former chairman of the SRA put it simply- ‘nice but- dim’ applicants often prevailed over the merit and endeavors of those who were less socially advantaged.”
Legislation and social attitudes forces firms to ensure that an ‘equal opportunities’ policy is in place. This, to some extent, has led to diversion within the legal profession, but not nearly enough. The profession remains to be dominated by white middle class males and although statistics from The Bar Council show a sharp increase in the number of female and BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) solicitors and barristers, these figures also indicate that the inclusion still only applies to the higher classes ‘as a result of the preference of employers for the graduates of ‘old’ universities, sections of society are filtered out of the profession’ according to research form the University of Westminster. This sees students who make a conscious decision to attend a ‘less prestigious’ University or study closer to home in order to keep student debt at a minimum at a disadvantage. And with an increase in student’s fees deterring young people from a lower socio-economic background from attending University at all, any progress already made in attempting to make the legal profession more diverse is certain to regress.
