Slaughter and May has entered into an exclusive partnership with social mobility charity, upReach, to launch the Law Springboard, a programme designed to improve access to the legal sector for high potential undergraduates from less-advantaged backgrounds. upReach is a charitable organisation that helps students across the UK to realise their potential.

Reinforces commitment

The Law Springboard is a newly designed programme that provides students with relevant information and experience of corporate law and the legal sector, to enable them to succeed in securing work experience, training contracts or other career opportunities. Sponsored by Slaughter and May, the programme will support 90 undergraduates from less-advantaged backgrounds through personalised one-to-one support, skills workshops, application and interview preparation. Slaughter and May will also provide students with insight days, mentoring by lawyers and work experience opportunities. Steve Cooke, senior partner at Slaughter and May, said “We decided to partner with upReach because we wanted to give students from less-advantaged backgrounds insight into both our firm and the wider sector so that they can think seriously about a legal career. It also reinforces our commitment to social mobility and supports our work with schools and our inclusive approach to recruitment.”

Pioneering work

Slaughter and May says the partnership builds on their existing social mobility programme and their pioneering approach. The firm is a founding member of The Social Mobility Business Partnership, formerly the Legal Social Mobility Partnership. It has also a partnership with Central Foundation Boys' School and education charity The Access Project to support motivated students from less-privileged backgrounds win places at top universities. The firm is one of five city law forms sponsoring an exclusive training programme for university students from less-advantaged backgrounds who are interested in pursuing a career in law. It is also one of the first firms in the city to implement a contextual recruitment system to identify candidates with the greatest potential. John Craven, chief executive at upReach, said “we are thrilled to be working with Slaughter and May to help improve access to the legal professions. Our partnership on the new Law Springboard will allow us to work together to ensure that talented candidates from all backgrounds are able to succeed in the sector, and we are very excited to be launching the programme.”