It is the loftiest firm in a profession often criticised as too elitist. But Slaughter and May has become the latest big law firm to reach out to underprivileged youngsters as part of a drive to make the legal industry more socially diverse.
The City firm, whose partners are said to earn an average of £1.7 million a year, has launched a mentoring scheme aimed at helping students from the local Central Foundation Boys’ School to get into top universities. The school hit the headlines in 2003 when Diane Abbott, the Labour MP, was offered a place there for her son but she turned it down to send him to a £10,000-a-year private school — a move widely criticised at the time.
Partners, junior lawyers