DLA Piper moves up Social Mobility Employer Index rankings
DLA Piper has been ranked 12th in the Social Mobility Foundation’s Social Mobility Employer Index 2022, an improvement of five places from last year. Now in its sixth year, the Index ranks and benchmarks 75 firms across Britain.
DLA Piper was recognised for having made a sustained commitment to accessing and progressing talent from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The firm performed particularly well in several of the areas examined, including recruitment and selection, working with young people and launching new routes into the firm.
The firm scored exceptionally highly on advocacy, ranking in the top 10% of all submissions. The Social Mobility Foundation noted how accountability for DLA Piper’s social mobility strategy sits at Executive Board level, demonstrating the importance of the issue within the firm. The work the firm has done collaborating with other organisations to establish the Employer’s Social Mobility Alliance was also singled out. In addition, the Alliance’s report on the state of social mobility in law and professional services was seen as an example of the firm using its position to advocate for social mobility and encourage clients to take action themselves.
The firm’s outreach programme, Head Start, which provides long-term opportunities for young people to build the skills and networks needed to define and reach educational and professional goals is commended as well targeted and impactful. Student participants are often living in social mobility cold spots across England and the firm’s efforts to reach these areas is commended. DLA Piper’s graduate and apprenticeship scheme was also recognised, particularly on its collection of data on apprentices. The Social Mobility Foundation, noting there is little evidence to suggest a connection between prior attainment and performance in a role, applauded the firm for not having grade requirements for its recruitment process as well as using standardised interview questions in order to counter possible interviewer bias.
Simon Levine, Global Co-CEO at DLA Piper, said: “Improving socio-economic diversity is critically important for our firm and the legal industry as a whole. We’re proud to have a long history of working with charities and NGOs to help us understand key social issues and challenges and support talented people coming into and succeed in the legal profession. This year’s Social Mobility Employer Index ranking is testament to the hard work and commitment of our people as well as the rigour of our processes and systems across the business to ensure that the people can thrive at our firm, regardless of their socio-economic background.”
Read our latest Improving socioeconomic diversity at DLA Piper report here.
