A new study on social mobility in law, backed by eight top law firms, has found that many junior lawyers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are being held back from progressing – despite being better performers – due in part to the "micro-aggressions" they face on a daily basis.

The research, which was compiled in conjunction with Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Clifford Chance, Dentons, Hogan Lovells, HFW and Pinsent Masons, finds "significant" evidence of such micro-aggressions – defined as "everyday words or acts that communicate denigrating messages to certain groups who are perceived as different, for example by gender, ethnicity, and/or socioeconomic background".