Sharpe Pritchard Celebrates Social Mobility Day

Sharpe Pritchard LLP will celebrate Social Mobility Day on 15^th June by reaffirming its commitment to promoting social mobility and fostering equality within the legal profession.

Social Mobility Day exists to promote conversations about social mobility and encourage action to bring about positive change.

Sharpe Pritchard is committed to being a part of this positive change, recognising the importance of providing opportunities to individuals from all backgrounds and providing access to legal careers regardless of socio-economic status.

Our work

Sharpe Pritchard has partnered with RO2K, The Sutton Trust and PRIME for 3 years. Working with these organisations every year Sharpe Pritchard welcomes work-experience students from lower social economic backgrounds each year to their offices, offering them experience of their work, insights into the legal industry and career workshops.

The firm is also partnered with AllAboutGroup to support its trainee recruitment process and to hold careers events specifically for socially mobile applicants.

By providing these opportunities, the firm aims to empower aspiring young professionals, supporting them on their career path.

The firm is also proud to be a member of the Collab Network, an inclusive and dynamic community of law firms founded in 2022. The network works together to promote equality and diversity in the legal profession. The firm and the network were recently ‘highly commended’ for excellence in DE&I at the People in Law Awards for its work with the 10,000 black interns programme.

Trainee Apprentices

Apprenticeships play a crucial role in promoting social mobility within the legal profession by offering a fully funded route to becoming a qualified solicitor. Sharpe Pritchard introduced apprenticeships in 2020 and its first cohort of trainee apprentice solicitors started the programme in 2022.

As a result of these initiatives, Sharpe Pritchard placed 63rd in the Top 75 Employers Social Mobility Foundation Index. 

Justin Mendelle, Senior Partner at Sharpe Pritchard, said: “Social mobility is fundamental to our ethos as a firm. Nobody should be excluded from rewarding and fulfilling professional roles because of the background they happen to have been born into. 

“We are delighted to play a small part in changing that and are very pleased to have been recognised as a top employer when it comes to social mobility.

Notes:

1. Sharpe Pritchard is a national law firm of public sector specialist.
2. Allaboutgroup is an outsourced recruitment solutions specialist: https://www.allaboutgroup.org/#intro
3. Reach out for 2 Kids Ltd (RO2K) – Is a London based charity Supporting young people from diverse and low-income backgrounds It was founded in 2011 by CEO and former Sharpe Pritchard Partner, Denise Stephenson. Home | ROK (Reach Out 2 Kids) (ro2k.co.uk)
4. The Sutton Trust is charity looking to improve social mobility within the workplace. https://www.suttontrust.com/
5. PRIME is an alliance of law firms across the UK and Republic of Ireland determined to improve access to, and socio-economic diversity within, the legal profession. https://primecommitment.co.uk/
6. 10,000 black interns is a charity which secures paid internships for BME members across a number of sectors. https://www.10000blackinterns.com/
7. The Social Mobility Foundation Index rankings were first launched in 2017 and have grown to become one of the leading national employer led social mobility indices. The Social Mobility Employer Index 2023