Social Mobility Awareness Day – 15 June 2023

15 June is Social Mobility Awareness Day. This day exists to promote wider conversations about social mobility and to encourage action that brings about positive change. This year’s theme is simple – to #SpeakMore.

So in honour of Social Mobility Awareness Day, we are going to #SpeakMore about the wonderful work that Birmingham Law Society is dedicating to this field. Birmingham Law Society is committed to addressing the important issue of social mobility and has a dedicated Social Mobility Sub-Committee made up of lawyers and legal academics from a range of organisations. Our sub-committee is dedicated to raising awareness of how important social mobility is for the legal profession as a whole, but also within Birmingham. Where someone’s life begins should not determine their path, however for many thousands of people in the United Kingdom and in our local area, it very much does.

Our sub-committee is committed to making a difference, and over the last year we have run a series of successful events and initiatives, for example:

1. The Alternative Dinner held at Edgbaston Stadium, to give an opportunity to junior professionals and students to have a chance to attend the society dinner to network and improve their contact base in the legal sector;
2. The first Social Mobility Conference in Birmingham, sponsored by Squire Patton Boggs. This was an opportunity to hear from key members and stakeholders in the legal community to gain an understanding of why improving social mobility is vital, and what can be done practically to drive change; and
3. The annual Raising Aspirations in Law (RAIL) Event, which is a careers event to give aspiring lawyers the opportunity to network with legal professionals in Birmingham. The event is focused on students who have limited legal connections and come from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
4. The Diversity and Inclusion Scheme, which provides a postgraduate scholarship and mentoring to aspiring lawyers from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

There is lots of progress happening, but the journey continues. Our sub-committee will continue to develop and build in order to increase our presence within the Birmingham legal community.

If you are interested in the work that Birmingham Law Society are doing in respect of social mobility please contact Alice Kinder (Vice President and Chair of the Social Mobility Sub-Committee) or Catherine Edwards (Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee) for more information.