David Morley reviews Allen & Overy's Smart Start Experience, which aims to broaden career horizons for underprivileged London students through workshops with business professionals

Earlier this year, I spent time visiting schools in some of the more deprived parts of London. I saw for myself the positive impact that work experience can have for young people – in particular for those who do not have family or friends in a position to help them get that experience.

Work experience is an essential first step on the career ladder for many top professions. Without it, young people can find themselves falling at the first hurdle when applying for jobs in their chosen career. But not everyone has the same access to work experience and internships in certain professions. It often depends on who you know, rather than what you know.

This is a sentiment shared by Alan Milburn MP, who leads the Government's Panel on Fair Access to the Professions which was set up to assess social mobility in the UK. In April, he cited a cabinet office report that claimed professions like law, politics and media were "becoming more, not less, socially exclusive", in part because of a system of internships and work experience that favour young people from professional or middle-class backgrounds.

Research from The Sutton Trust, an organisation that campaigns to give disadvantaged young people better access to the professions, backs these findings. Its research shows that the majority of those at the top of leading professions were educated in independent, fee-paying schools, which remain closed to most of the population. This includes 70% of leading judges and 68% of barristers, as well as a majority of partners at top law firms (55%) and leading journalists and medics (both 54%).

I went to a state school. Somebody from a background like mine might not get into the profession today – I find that unbelievable.

Access and aspirations

There are some obvious barriers that prevent young people from underprivileged backgrounds getting into careers where work experience is a requirement.

One issue is access. Knowing how to go about pursuing a career in law or medicine, understanding how those industries work, finding work experience opportunities – none of these crucial steps are accessible enough to certain groups of young people. In addition, many internships are unpaid and so implicitly favour those families that can afford to support their children.

Another major barrier is aspirations. There are a significant number of bright, enthusiastic young people who, because of their backgrounds, think that a career in business is not a possibility. When they think of their future, they have no point of reference in the business world or among the professions. Their parents, families and friends' parents do not work in professional sectors, so those jobs are just not on their horizon.

With the launch of the Allen & Overy Smart Start Experience, it is these students that we were targeting. Bright, enthusiastic students who, for a variety of reasons, do not think a career in business or the professions is an option. It was not about finding the straight 'A' students and encouraging them to become lawyers; it was about giving young people an opportunity they might not otherwise have to engage with the business world. By creating a more level playing field, we hope we have given those that took part a better chance

The Smart Start Experience

Over 100 sixth-form students attended the programme from schools right across London – making this, we believe, the largest scheme of its kind undertaken by a law firm.

The students spent a week between 29 June and 3 July taking part in a series of interactive workshops and challenges designed to build a range of skills, from improving personal impact to how to negotiate, debate, present and work in a team – skills that would be useful in whatever career they choose.

We worked with a not-for-profit organisation, the Brokerage Citylink, to select schools from some of the most deprived areas of London and advertised the scheme with teachers and students in the schools to try and attract people who would really benefit from taking part.

We felt strongly that the sessions should not lecture the students, but give them interesting and practical insights into business. The workshops ranged from preparing a legal defence in the famous Dudley vs Stephens cannibalism trial (complete with a courtroom, judge and jury) to negotiating the sale of a fictional football club in a fast-paced business game on the final day, which brought together all the skills they had learned over the week. In addition, the students did a workshop with our global charity partner, the Red Cross, exploring international humanitarian law and issues of fairness and justice. And we held a series of networking lunches with professionals from across the business – from PAs and partners to marketing, finance and HR professionals – to show the students the range of careers and skills that are on offer.

On the final day of the programme, teachers and parents came to our office in Bishops Square to see the grand final, where teams of the students competed for a prize – a surprise visit to the red carpet premiere of the latest Harry Potter film. All the students left with certificates of achievement and goodie bags.

It was also important to do something that our own people could get involved with, and the issue certainly struck a chord with staff. Within a week of announcing the programme, 230 people had volunteered to help out, and most of the workshops were devised and delivered by our own people.

By the time the students had completed the programme, 83% said they left feeling more confident, and 80% said that taking part in the Smart Start Experience had made them more ambitious.

The scheme has also been praised by Alan Milburn's Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, which will publish its full findings on social mobility in the UK later this month.

If the report echoes the panel's initial findings, it will say that there is still work to do. Some of it will be at a government level, but there is much that businesses can do as well.

We hope to run the programme again next year and expand it to some of our international offices. Ultimately we wanted to do something practical – and, if it is judged to be a success, perhaps it will serve as an example that others can follow.

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