Former Bar Council chairman Geoffrey Vos QC has taken up a role as chairman of the trustees of the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF).

The charity, which aims to help youngsters from underprivileged backgrounds enter major professions, named Vos to replace Conservative MP Oliver Letwin at the helm of its board of trustees.

Vos, who took up his new role on 1 January, became involved with the SMF after the Bar Council participated in a pilot placement scheme that saw 26 students from disadvantaged backgrounds spend a week shadowing barristers.

The SMF provided 80 internships in 2006 in more than 60 businesses and corporations.

Eighteen law firms were involved in the scheme, including national giants Addleshaw Goddard and Eversheds, City leaders Clifford Chance, Ashurst, Denton Wilde Sapte, Herbert Smith, Norton Rose and Olswang and US giant Latham & Watkins.

Vos commented: "My intention is to work with our chief executive, Linkson Jack, to grow the project so that within three or four years we can place 1,000 students per year and… can expand from a London base to a nationwide programme."

He added: "My vision is to provide support in a number of ways for students from less privileged backgrounds so that they have a realistic chance of bridging the gap between aspiration to a profession in Year 12 at school, through university and towards actual entry to that profession after graduation."

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