My first attempt at something for the paper... may or may not get printed but hey!

When I was at college I was asked the golden question by my teacher: ‘what do you want to do after University?’, when I told him I wanted 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: There is a strong class division in the legal profession and since I had attended a state school and sixth form college, the chances of me making it to the bar were slim.

Success in the legal profession is barred by what is referred to as ‘the old boys network’, which sees attendance of private school and family connections endorse a successful application. An applicant may have a multitude of fantastic grades, reams of extra curricular attendance and outstanding references, but those outside of the inner circle, without the ‘correct’ social and educational background of the privileged classes will lack the social networking required to be a success in the legal field. The former chairman of the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) put it simply- ‘nice but- dim’ applicants often prevailed over the merit and endeavors of those who were less socially advantaged.”

Amongst law students the message given seems to be that is not what you know but who you know. I have spoken to some of Salford Law School’s students, and many agree there is still a class system in place which prevents them from attaining the career they seek, many have opted to take different career routes due to social prejudices they feel are against them. A few students had already been refused placements on this basis- one girl was told that not attending a private school meant that firms ‘could not guarantee the quality of her education’; another student was told ‘not to waste her money’ on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) because employers would not deem Salford University as ‘good enough’ no matter what her grades were like at the end of her degree.

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 Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) 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. Students who make a conscious decision to attend a ‘less prestigious’ University, or study closer to home to keep their debt at a minimum are disadvantaged. 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.