BLD honoured at diversity reception; CILEx praised for promoting social mobility

The BLD Foundation (BLD) recently held a reception at the House of Commons to raise awareness of the need to increase diversity in, and access to, the legal profession.

The reception was hosted by Barclays and attended by legal professionals, MPs and members of the House of Lords. Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling made the keynote speech, during which he said: “Increasing diversity and social mobility is a vital part of helping ensure that UK business and industry remains competitive on a global level. Organisations like the BLD Foundation are doing important work to support this, by connecting young people from ethnic minority and socio-economically underprivileged backgrounds with leading UK businesses and supporting them to achieve their fullest potential.”

Debo Nwauzu, founder and executive head of BLD, spoke about the work of the foundation, particularly two of the organisation’s key programmes, ‘Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s Lawyers’ and ‘Legal Launch Pad’. Both aim to help ethnic minorities and those from underprivileged backgrounds understand more about opportunities within the legal profession.

In other diversity news, CILEx has been singled out for praise by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission in its most recent report. The report commends CILEx for its flexible entry routes, stating that it “continues to provide an important pathway to qualification as a lawyer for those who have not been to university”. Baroness Gillian Shepherd, deputy chair of the commission, said during the recent Professions Week that there is a need to look at “non-university routes into professions”.

Oliver Chesters-Lewis, a year 10 pupil from Bedford Free School, said: “CILEx has really opened my eyes to the different ways you can become a lawyer and I now know that I want to become a criminal lawyer. I also know that I could become a legal apprentice after I leave school or study with CILEx part time while I am working at a law firm and still become a qualified lawyer instead of going to university.”