On 4 November 2020 the Cambridgeshire Law Society welcomed Stephanie Boyce, the Deputy Vice President of the Law Society, to speak to us about her career journey and her hopes and plans for her own presidency in 2021.
For those of you who were not able to attend the event, we have included some highlights from Stephanie’s speech below.
A fresh perspective…
“I took up my role as an office holder of the Law Society of England and Wales in July 2019. In so doing, I represent a couple of firsts. In October next year I will become the first black woman to hold the position of president, as well as being the first in-house solicitor to hold this role.
I hope to bring a fresh perspective and an understanding of the experiences of under-represented groups, and what we must to do to support them. I also hope through my experiences, and that of many of our members, to provide proof that no matter what the challenge, or how insurmountable the odds appear to be, it is possible to succeed if you are determined and passionate”.
Priorities for presidency…
“In addition to our ongoing work in…fighting to ensure that vital, affordable legal advice is made available to everyone who needs it – I want to take a different angle on this problem by looking at how we teach and talk about the law to young people”.
“We all know that legal rights are effectively meaningless unless people know about them, understand them and are able to enforce them, often with the help of a legal adviser. Ensuring that this is the case is fundamental to proper access to justice, and as part of this I think we need to look closely at how we can improve the teaching of law in schools, to ensure the next generation has the legal knowhow that they need”.
“My second key priority: continuing to work to improve diversity, inclusion and social mobility in the solicitor profession”.
“I also want to use my presidency to address mental health in the solicitor profession. The coronavirus pandemic, and the lockdown that came with it, showed us how important it is for us to pay attention to our mental health, and I hope to use my year as President to explore ways we can support individual solicitors and firms in looking after their or their employees’ mental health”.
“Promoting proper diversity and inclusion in the solicitor profession”.
“We need to do more to challenge the stereotypes of what a solicitor should look like or where they should come from. We want to show that people from all walks of life and backgrounds can make valuable contributions and achieve success in our profession”.
“Our latest statistics suggest that:
- Just over half of practising solicitors are the first generation in their family to attend university.
- There are almost 64,000 women solicitors today, compared to fewer than 5,000 in 1978. There are now more women than men entering the profession, with women making up just over 60 per cent of law graduates and an equal amount of new admissions.
- 17 per cent of practising solicitors are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. There are however differences in the representation of minority ethnic groups: 10% of solicitors are from an Asian background, while only 3% are black.
Despite the increase in diversity in the profession, challenges remain in ensuring equal opportunities and progression and a culture of inclusivity”.
Opening up the profession…
“A key part of the Law Society’s mission is to ensure that anyone with the necessary skills, knowledge and commitment to become a solicitor is supported, enabled and empowered throughout their career, regardless of gender, ethnicity or background.
To this end, the Society runs a number of schemes designed to open the profession up to people of talent from every corner of society.
The Diversity Access Scheme (or DAS) is a scholarship that… aims to identify exceptional students who have a strong ambition to qualify as a solicitor but who, without support, will almost certainly not be able to realise that ambition. The DAS provides support to talented aspiring solicitors by:
- Providing scholarships to enable students to complete the LPC;
- Helping them to gain relevant work experience;
- Putting them in touch with solicitor mentors, who can provide invaluable advice on shaping their career path.
DAS targets talented, tenacious people from disadvantaged backgrounds who have had to overcome particular challenges to continue their legal education.”
“Our social mobility ambassador’s programme…showcases accomplished members of the profession who have overcome socio-economic challenges to pursue their legal education and succeed in their careers.
Our Ambassador’s experiences are told in print, through our Ambassador booklets, and in film, on our Ambassador webpages. We have also created a way for our ambassadors to help aspiring solicitors on a one-to-one level through the ‘ask an ambassador’ email address”.
Key areas for improvement….
“We are always looking at what more can be done to enable the legal profession to be more effective in increasing social mobility. We have already identified several key areas for improvement, such as:
- Fair recruitment –unconscious bias impacts on decisions and actions in the recruitment process. The Society supports and promotes more firms using contextual recruitment in order to minimise the impact of unconscious bias and to effectively increase social mobility. We will be engaging with key stakeholders to widen uptake of contextual recruitment practises.
- Regional coverage –although there are numerous organisations and projects focussed on increasing social mobility in the profession in larger firms and across the City, regional variation leaves many aspiring solicitors in other parts of the country with little support. We would like to see greater drive to promote fair access opportunities in these regions and we have set up Diversity and Inclusion forums in each to discuss and promote the benefits of good practice.
- Post-1992 Universities – law firms and other providers of legal services have limited resources to exhibit and promote their training contracts at university law fairs. This means that often, firms’ exhibits often focus on the ‘Russell Group’ universities and Oxbridge, targeting high achieving students with a proven academic track record.
As a result, talented potential entrants to the profession at the newer universities, which are more likely to attract students from lower socio-economic groups, are likely to miss out on the opportunities these events create.
The Law Society will be looking to encourage the top 100 firms to commit to visiting at least one post-1992 university each academic year. The Law Society will also continue to host, attend and promote the “London Law Fair” as it grants students, most likely from disadvantaged backgrounds, direct access to some of the major firms within the legal profession.
- Paid internships and work experience –work experience has become a defining and essential step towards a legal career. Where competition for work experience is intense, there is the potential for individuals to be faced with a choice between taking placements under conditions that are not in their best interests or not taking placements at all.
This environment raises significant equality, diversity and social mobility issues, both for students and for the future of the profession. The Law Society would like to see all firms either weight non-legal work experience in the same way legal work experience is weighted in the shortlisting process for training contracts; or set out the expectations clearly – for example, the length of the placement and whether it will be remunerated.
The future…
“There is plenty for the Law Society to do to continue building a future for the profession where talent alone is the sole determinant of how successful you can be. This is something I will continue to drive over the next two years as Vice President, and then President, of the Law Society”.
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