Law firms and barristers' chambers could be required to publish details of the academic backgrounds of trainees and new recruits under Government guidelines designed to encourage diversity in the legal profession.

The recommendation results from the findings of a working party set up last year by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) in response to a report on diversity by the Legal Services Consultative Panel which highlighted barriers to the profession, which include gender and ethnicity.

The report recommends that the DCA liaises with the Department for Education & Skills and works more closely with law firms and barristers' chambers to promote wider access to the profession.

It also proposes that the DCA monitors the advance of firm-specific Legal Practice Courses and recommends the introduction of measures to improve students' access to information about the cost and timescale of training.

The working party's members include Clifford Chance global learning and development partner Julia Clark, Old Square Chambers barrister Jane McNeill QC and representatives from the Law Society, the Bar Council and the Institute of Legal Executives.

Legalweek.com (5 December).