Social Mobility
At Weightmans, we See the Possibility in everyone. Regardless of your background, we recognise your ability to accomplish remarkable things.
As a firm, we acknowledge the many challenges that disadvantaged groups face in life, including access to a career in law.
As a Top Employer, we See the Possibility in everyone and are committed to valuing everyone’s experience and breaking down historical barriers. We aim to ensure that we attract a diverse pool of qualified professionals from different walks of life, and bright aspiring solicitors who can access pathways to qualification within the law at our firm.
Our approach to Social Mobility and early careers
Reach as many young people as possible
- Visiting primary schools as part of our Legal Explorers Programme. We believe that engaging with children at an early age will help ‘plant the seed’ and allow them to see the opportunities that are available to them in the legal sector.
- Attending secondary schools and colleges, with a focus on those with a higher proportion of students entitled to free school meals or those located in areas of high levels of deprivation.
- Attending a range of universities and careers fairs, not restricted to Russell Group to speak to undergraduates about the opportunities available.
- Working with social mobility charities and other partners to provide insight days, work experience programmes and mentoring.
- Providing work experience programmes which are accessible to all – including our legal insights programme and summer vacation scheme.
Contextual recruitment for Early Careers roles
Using a contextual recruitment system, Dandi, we can identify high performing candidates who may have faced adverse impact during their secondary education. Therefore, if young people have narrowly missed out on their grades, we would still encourage them to apply. We judge each application on its own merits and so this grade criteria may be adjusted based on personal circumstances.
Assess for potential
We do not assess/score work experience in our Early Careers applications as we recognise that due to personal circumstance it may be more accessible to some than others. We offer a range of opportunities for students to gain experience, knowledge and employability skills, however this is not something which is a requirement or used to assess participants.
For more information, please visit our Early Careers page.
Going beyond law
We embed employability skills development within all of our Early Careers programmes, to help young people develop relevant skills and competences, and support them with their career aspirations whether in the legal sector or more generally this includes commercial awareness training, CV advice and mock interviews.
We work with social mobility organisations who support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing meaningful experiences as an employer. This includes LTSB, The Sutton Trust, and Everton In The Community.
Case study: working with our partners at Everton In The Community (EITC) to deliver a legal internship.
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EITC support the most vulnerable and underprivileged members of communities within the Liverpool city region by creating life-changing opportunities. Weightmans have partnered with EITC since 2023 to deliver an internship to students from schools located within areas which have some of the highest levels of deprivation within the UK. This paid internship each summer is designed to provide skills, knowledge and experience to support ambitious students on their career journey. Three of our previous interns have gone on to receive offers for roles at the firm including solicitor degree apprentices and trainee solicitor.
Our firmwide commitment
Weightmans Social Mobility Network
Launched in 2025, the aim of this network is to help break down attitudinal and practical barriers by sharing knowledge, educating internally and externally, and supporting social mobility initiatives firm-wide and within offices.
Awareness raising and education
- Equipping our own people with knowledge regarding social mobility and why it is important to us as a firm
- Encouraging our colleagues to be open about their backgrounds, stories and successes, to tackle stigma and demonstrate what is possible
- Sharing best practice externally, whether it be with a client, university or anyone that asks
Accountability
- Monitoring the diversity and socio-economic data of our firm and reporting on progress at board level
- Undertaking an annual social mobility survey and analysing the results to help guide our social mobility strategy
- Entering the Social Mobility Employer Index each year and utilising the individual feedback report to further tailor our strategy
Our people’s stories
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Coming from what could be defined by some as a ‘non-typical’ background for a solicitor, Sarah talks through her journey and offers some invaluable advice to encourage people to ‘See the Possibility’ in themselves. Sarah is the perfect example of how barriers and obstacles can be overcome, and what can be achieved if you set your mind to it, no matter what your background is.
Sarah Walton, Weightmans Managing Partner