Winner: Allen & Overy

In a year in which diversity has been high on the agenda in the legal industry, there was no shortage of strong entries in this category. Eversheds was one of the stand-out candidates with its Eversheds Unlocked scheme, a three-day programme for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The law firm then expanded the initiative to create the 'Unlocked Academy', a four-year mentoring programme. The firm's efforts won praise for rigour with one judge commenting: "It was detailed and looked well thought-out."

Also highlighted as having range and ambition was the Legal Diversity Council, which was created by the EMEA legal department of Citi. The council was formed to bring together a range of existing schemes with a focus on encouraging four key policies: recruitment of diverse staff; merit-based promotion; effective monitoring of diversity; and incentivising legal service suppliers to commit to diversity. 

Ultimately, however, the award went to Allen & Overy (A&O) for its influential scheme to tackle social diversity, Smart Start. The programme, now in its fourth year, has seen nearly 500 state school children from deprived areas in London gain work experience at the firm and be given a chance to learn about opportunities within the City and professional services. A&O was also noted for its efforts in supporting the cross-industry diversity initiative PRIME, which has since secured wide take-up and is set to give thousands of children from non-privileged backgrounds meaningful work experience in the legal sector.