Seven law firms secure top 10 spots in 2024 Social Mobility Employer Index

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Browne Jacobson LLP (alongside PwC) tops the UK’s Social Mobility Employer Index for the third time, with magic circle law firms Slaughter and May, Linklaters LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP also featuring in this year’s top 10.

Lewis Silkin and Norton Rose Fulbright took the seventh and eighth spots, respectively, while several other law firms were named in the index’s top 75, including Addleshaw Goddard, Macfarlanes LLP, Clifford Chance, Shoosmiths and RPC.

The Social Mobility Employer Index is an annual benchmarking and assessment tool, which uses the latest research and best practice to measure employers’ performance on eight areas of employer-led social mobility, including:

• schools outreach and work with young people;
• attraction and university outreach;
• recruitment and selection;
• data collection; and
• culture and internal advocacy.

The index, which is in its eighth year, saw 150 entrants in 2024 – the largest number since its inception. Of those 150 entrants, 46 were law firms. This year’s report found that 26 of the entrants are measuring their class pay gap and 72% are collecting three or four socioeconomic data points for current employees.

Chair of the Social Mobility Foundation, Rt Honourable Alan Milburn, described this year’s entrants as “trailblazers” for change, highlighting research from the foundation that found that professionals from working class backgrounds are paid £6,291 less on average annually than their more privileged peers. Milburn added that the entrants “drive a wider movement for change as the cost of low social mobility becomes clearer”.

Browne Jacobson was acknowledged for its innovative approach, commitment to continuous improvement and its status as a law firm with a dedicated social mobility team.

The firm’s managing partner, Richard Medd, commented on the firm’s achievement: "Securing the top spot in the Social Mobility Employer Index is a landmark achievement that reflects our unwavering commitment to creating a truly inclusive legal sector, and being at the forefront of society’s biggest issues. We've long believed that talent can come from anywhere – it should never be defined by background or postcode, and this recognition validates our innovative approach to breaking down barriers in the profession.”

The remaining law firms to feature on this year’s top 75 Social Mobility Employer index were:

• CMS;
• Ashurst LLP;
• Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP;
• DLA Piper UK LLP;
• Stephenson Harwood LLP;
• Weightmans LLP;
• Mishcon de Reya LLP;
• Pinsent Masons LLP;
• TLT LLP;
• Sharpe Pritchard LLP;
• Shepherd and Wedderburn;
• Hogan Lovells;
• Farrer & Co LLP;
• Simmons & Simmons LLP;
• Irwin Mitchell LLP;
• Clyde & Co LLP;
• Stewarts Law LLP;
• Mayer Brown International LLP; and
• Charles Russell Speechlys LLP.

Radcliffe Chambers was the only barristers’ chambers to feature on the index this year.