Showing children the possibilities in law firms

We’ve partnered with Hamstead Hall Academy Trust to break down barriers to entering the legal profession.

Making our team – and the entire legal sector – diverse is a priority for us. We believe this starts in schools and showing young people that they have a place in brilliant law firms such as ours. We also want to explain that we base recruitment on skills and merit rather than background to further diversify our profession.

We’re partnering with Hamstead Hall Academy Trust in Birmingham to run events for their students. The academy caters for approximately 1100 students and reflects the religious and cultural diversity of the city. It has been at the forefront of inclusion and is one of six schools in the city with a special needs resource base. It also has its own clear core purpose which lends itself to ours – it seeks to remove barriers for its students and teach them that nothing can hold them back, whether that’s ethnicity, cultural background, financial situation or social circumstances.

Guess the job

For the first event, 180 students from years 10 and 11 gathered in the hall. To encourage discussion and give all students the chance to get involved, we divided the group into 4 circles. Most of the young people thought that it was just solicitors that work at a law firm. However, we brought a group from across the AC team who work in a range of roles, including Narinder Singh (associate solicitor), Vik Mistry (IT support manager) and Phil Saunders (head of HR and office services).

We ran different activities to challenge the students’ preconceptions, including guessing who did what job by asking open questions to the AC team member. We then ran a session on writing a CV and a personal statement which offered them valuable advice on presenting themselves to employers. At an age where they are starting to think about their future, the day was a great opportunity to discuss their options and future aspirations.

Exciting plans ahead

This is just the beginning of our partnership with Hamstead Hall Academy Trust. We’ve already got big plans moving forward, with events that will take place throughout the year ahead. We also want to work with younger students to make sure they feel empowered to take control of their future and see opportunities instead of limitations.

For the older students, the team are hoping to arrange an open-day event where a group will visit our offices. It will also involve some great activities to help them experience a law firm, as well as speakers from various departments and the local judiciary with ties to our firm.

Changing perceptions

We’re proud to be working with Hamstead Hall Academy Trust. Having people from different backgrounds as part of our team is essential to the work we do. For example, many children in our communities are from war-torn countries and English isn’t their first language, so having people that represent them is key.

Narinder Singh who is an associate at Anthony Collins (AC) leads a subgroup of the ED&I committee and helps run events. He says, “I actually studied at Hamstead Hall – the students couldn’t believe that someone from their school could do a job like mine. If someone had talked to me at their age, I think I would have had fewer fears about entering a profession which seemed very unachievable and elitist.”

“Seeing diversity in our profession is personally important to me. It hasn’t always been this way and, although we’re getting closer, there is a lot more we can do. I believe it is my duty to make sure the profession reflects the communities we serve.”
Narinder Singh, associate, Anthony Collins