HFW Retains Ranking As One Of UK’s Top Social Mobility Employers

Global, sector-focused law firm HFW has once again been ranked as one of the UK’s top social mobility employers.

The firm is ranked in the Social Mobility Employer Index, which lists the UK organisations taking the most action to tackle social mobility.

HFW has been ranked in the index every year since it was launched in 2017 by UK charity the Social Mobility Foundation.

The index, which is published in partnership with the City of London Corporation, covers all UK organisations – not just law firms.

The Social Mobility Foundation praised the firm’s achievements in:

• Targeting outreach work at schools with above average levels of Free School Meals
• Tracking educational and career outcomes for the students we work with, plus gathering feedback that indicates that our outreach work is having a real impact
• Operating a contextual recruitment system
• Conducting ongoing monitoring of our trainee recruitment process, and removing barriers as they are identified
• Taking part in research looking at the impact of socio-economic background on progression and retention

The percentage of HFW’s London trainees who were the first members of their family to go to University has increased from 10.3% in 2015 to 19.6% in 2019.

The benchmarking is supported by an advisory group that includes representatives from the Association of Graduate Recruiters, the Bridge Group, Royal Holloway University and Stonewall.

Jeremy Shebson, Managing Partner, HFW:

“We are proud to have once again been recognised as one of the UK’s top social mobility employers. This is an issue that we take extremely seriously, and we have worked hard across the firm to ensure that we attract talent from a diverse range of backgrounds to HFW. We are committed to help improve social mobility within the legal industry, and will continue to ensure that the success of our colleagues is determined by talent and potential, rather than socio-economic background.”

For more information about the index, see: http://www.socialmobility.org.uk/index/