Allen & Overy (A&O) has become the latest major law firm to actively target ethnic diversity recruitment by hiring an agency which focuses on African Caribbean graduates.

The magic circle firm has signed up to work with Rare Recruitment, joining Clifford Chance (CC), Hogan Lovells, Herbert Smith and Travers Smith among law firm clients of the diversity specialist agency.

Rare – whose managing director is Raphael Mokades, a former diversity manager at publishing company Pearson – also works with Fountain Court Chambers.

Clients of the agency pay a set, confidential fee on a yearly basis to be presented with ethnic minority candidates.

A&O graduate recruitment manager Caroline Lindner said: "Attracting the best and most diverse candidates is a business imperative for A&O. We are a global business, which relies on recruiting the most exceptional people from the broadest range of backgrounds, cultures and nationalities to best serve our clients.

"By working with Rare, we are showing our commitment to getting those people from the broadest pool of candidates possible."

Rare, which was set up in 2005, signed up Slaughter and May as its first law firm client in 2006. Slaughters initially paid Rare for an exclusivity agreement within the legal sector, but Rare later opted to broaden the arrangements in 2008 to be able to place a wider range of candidates.

The agency then started working with Travers Smith, with Hogan Lovells and Herbert Smith joining in 2010 and CC signing up in May this year.

Aside from law firms, Rare also works with a number of large banks and corporates, including Lloyds, UBS, Barclays, Bank of England, Transport for London, L'Oreal and Rothschild.

Rare specialises in providing high-achieving African Caribbean graduates but also works with other ethnic minorities, as well as non-ethnic minorities who pass the agency's quality mark, which is based on exceptional study results during the first year of university.

Mokades said: "Working with law firms like Slaughter and May, with very high standards, has been great for us since it has helped us get into very good habits. While we do a huge amount of work to prepare our candidates, the ultimate selection is made by the firm and entirely based on merit."

The agency has so far placed around 100 ethnic minority candidates on vacation schemes and traineeships with law firms, of which around 25-30 have joined Slaughters.

The news comes after the recent launch of the PRIME diversity initiative, which has seen a raft of leading law firms sign up to provide significant work experience programmes for children from non-privileged backgrounds in a bid to improve social diversity in law.