Interested in a future career as a lawyer? Use The Beginner’s Guide to a Career in Law to get started
Find out about the various legal apprenticeships on offer and browse vacancies with The Law Apprenticeships Guide
Information on qualifying through the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, including preparation courses, study resources, QWE and more
Discover everything you need to know about developing your knowledge of the business world and its impact on the law
The latest news and updates on the actions being taken to improve diversity and inclusion in the legal profession
Discover advice to help you prepare for and ace your vacation scheme, training contract and pupillage applications
Your first-year guide to a career in law – find out how to kickstart your legal career at this early stage
Your non-law guide to a career in law – everything you need to know about converting to law
updated on 14 April 2014
Macfarlanes has become the third firm to adopt a "CV-blind" policy to combat unconscious bias and elitism in its recruitment.
The top 30 City firm joins Clifford Chance and Mayer Brown in their use of CV-blind policies, which see assessors interview candidates without any prior knowledge of their educational backgrounds. However, in the initial stages of the selection process, recruiters still look at candidates' CVs.
As reported by Legal Week, Macfarlanes trialled the policy for its February and March open days and will now be applying it to vacation scheme candidates. The firm's graduate recruitment partner, Seán Lavin, clarified that Macfarlanes is "almost certain" to extend the CV-blind policy to its trainee recruitment.
Lavin commented: "CVs are still an important part of the recruitment process. However, we did not feel that there was any need for partners to have access to a candidate's CV when they are assessing the merits of a candidate in an interview setting. Interviewing candidates CV-blind reduces the possibility of bias for or against candidates from particular backgrounds."