Macfarlanes has extended its CV blind interview process to include training contract applications to the firm this year. 

The process, in which the applicant is assessed on a series of scenarios by a panel of partners who have no information on their background except their name, is intended to encourage social diversity in the profession by putting candidates who attended lower ranked universities on a level playing field with those from more elite institutions.

The firm has already used the technique for its most recent round of vacation scheme applicants.

Assessment days, conduct by partners who have no knowledge of the applicants' background, follow a more traditional CV based interview. The firm has no plans to remove CVs entirely from the process.

"We have to start with a CV interview," says Sean Lavin, Macfarlanes' head of recruitment. "But the CV blind interview is a whole different animal. Candidates are simply judged on how they perform in the practical test, which shows raw ability, the drive and grit that will help you survive in this industry.

"The legal profession is getting much more intelligent about how it looks at CVs. We aren't looking through and going 'Oh, wow, that person is from Oxford' anymore."

Assessment days for training contracts at the firm last from July through to the end of August when offers are made, so it is too early to assess the impact the scheme has had on the diversity of successful candidates.

Recent Legal Week research showed that only 15% of training contracts awarded at top 30 law firms went to students who attended universities outside of the elite Russell Group.

After Clifford Chance introduced CV blind interviewing last year, the number of universities and colleges from which it drew trainees grew nearly 30% on the previous year.

Lavin estimates that Macfarlanes has received around 900 applications for its training contracts this year, from which around 25 candidates will be awarded a contract with the firm. 

"I think it's going to take a bit of time to see any real trends," says Lavin. "The hope is that candidates from diverse backgrounds or those with atypical CVs will get in because any impediments will be run over."

Mayer Brown in London also intends to adopt a CV blind procedure for its assessment days, which are due to take place from August through to the end of September.