Leading global law firm, Baker McKenzie is proud to announce that its London office and Belfast Centre have been ranked in 8th place in the Social Mobility Foundation's 2022 Social Mobility Employer Index.
The index was created by UK charity the Social Mobility Foundation in 2017 and examines how companies and organizations are driving social mobility within their workplace.
The Social Mobility Employer Index is an annual benchmarking tool for organizations looking to understand how they are performing on social mobility and where they can improve. The Social Mobility Foundation assesses the steps being taken to ensure that the employer is open to talent from all social backgrounds and every entrant receives bespoke feedback to improve their social mobility work. This year 149 organizations from across 25 sectors submitted to the Index with the legal sector having the most submissions.
Partner, Arron Slocombe, who co-leads the Firm's London Social Mobility Group, BakerOpportunity, commented: "As a firm we are committed to not only improving social mobility in the legal profession, but also increasing the diversity of our candidates and our rise into the Top 10 of this year's Social Mobility Employer Index recognizes the work that we have been doing to support this. We are grateful for the feedback we have received over the years from the Social Mobility Foundation and have already started to look at how we can implement this year's comments into our plans for the next 12 months."
The Firm continues to work to multiply its impact through inclusion, diversity and equity: creating better and sustainable change in our industry. This ranking highlights some of the ways in which we have advanced our goals, including through our focus on developing a culture of mentoring and sponsorship, creating opportunity and access, and amplifying impact through education and collaboration.
Some of the initiatives run by the Firm's UK offices include:
• Running an annual PRIME work experience scheme and launching a PRIME alumni scheme off the back of this.
• Introducing specialized open days for future recruits, including one aimed at those from lower socio-economic backgrounds
• Increasing our maintenance grants for future trainees and introducing two new grants to give additional aid to those experiencing financial difficulty
• Working with external partners such as PRIME, Aspiring Solicitors, City Solicitors Horizon and Rare Recruitment to increase the number of candidates we hire from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Running a "Back to School" initiative, which encourages members of staff from all parts of the Firm to visit either the school or college they attended or to visit a local school or college to engage with young people and answer questions about life at a law firm.
• Establishing mentoring circles to support our employees from less privileged and more diverse social backgrounds as they navigate their careers at the firm and enable our senior leaders to identify and better understand the potential barriers to retention and progression (whether perceived or experienced) faced by our socially mobile employees, and to seek to develop solutions to address these
• Business professionals apprenticeships within the Belfast Centre, encouraging other routes into the Firm.
• The first Belfast Centre Baker McKenzie Student award given to encourage students who have overcome significant challenges.
The index was created by UK charity the Social Mobility Foundation in 2017 and examines how companies and organizations are driving social mobility within their workplace.
The Social Mobility Employer Index is an annual benchmarking tool for organizations looking to understand how they are performing on social mobility and where they can improve. The Social Mobility Foundation assesses the steps being taken to ensure that the employer is open to talent from all social backgrounds and every entrant receives bespoke feedback to improve their social mobility work. This year 149 organizations from across 25 sectors submitted to the Index with the legal sector having the most submissions.
Partner, Arron Slocombe, who co-leads the Firm's London Social Mobility Group, BakerOpportunity, commented: "As a firm we are committed to not only improving social mobility in the legal profession, but also increasing the diversity of our candidates and our rise into the Top 10 of this year's Social Mobility Employer Index recognizes the work that we have been doing to support this. We are grateful for the feedback we have received over the years from the Social Mobility Foundation and have already started to look at how we can implement this year's comments into our plans for the next 12 months."
The Firm continues to work to multiply its impact through inclusion, diversity and equity: creating better and sustainable change in our industry. This ranking highlights some of the ways in which we have advanced our goals, including through our focus on developing a culture of mentoring and sponsorship, creating opportunity and access, and amplifying impact through education and collaboration.
Some of the initiatives run by the Firm's UK offices include:
• Running an annual PRIME work experience scheme and launching a PRIME alumni scheme off the back of this.
• Introducing specialized open days for future recruits, including one aimed at those from lower socio-economic backgrounds
• Increasing our maintenance grants for future trainees and introducing two new grants to give additional aid to those experiencing financial difficulty
• Working with external partners such as PRIME, Aspiring Solicitors, City Solicitors Horizon and Rare Recruitment to increase the number of candidates we hire from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Running a "Back to School" initiative, which encourages members of staff from all parts of the Firm to visit either the school or college they attended or to visit a local school or college to engage with young people and answer questions about life at a law firm.
• Establishing mentoring circles to support our employees from less privileged and more diverse social backgrounds as they navigate their careers at the firm and enable our senior leaders to identify and better understand the potential barriers to retention and progression (whether perceived or experienced) faced by our socially mobile employees, and to seek to develop solutions to address these
• Business professionals apprenticeships within the Belfast Centre, encouraging other routes into the Firm.
• The first Belfast Centre Baker McKenzie Student award given to encourage students who have overcome significant challenges.
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