Who we work with

The Law Society 
Cobbetts is a founder signatory of the Law Society’s Diversity Charter which was launched in July 2009 and is ‘the flagship diversity initiative of the legal profession”.  We are also part of the Law Society’s diversity and inclusion working group and we participate in meetings where best practice is agreed and communicated to all law firms.  We jointly hosted the preview of the Equality and Diversity Standards Toolkit in 2010 and are members of a regional focus group in Yorkshire.

Pathways to Law
Pathways to Law is an innovative initiative which provides opportunities for potential law students from UK state schools who will be first generation attendees at university.  The work that Pathways is successfully carrying out fits comfortably into our commitment to equality and opportunity for all.

Student placement
This year, saw the first placement for a Pathways to Law student through the Pathways scheme.  The scheme was offered on the basis of one day per week for three months and offered lots of practical experience to aid the student with obtaining a law degree.

Practice interview skills day
Working with Widening Participation and Pathways to Law at the University of Leeds, we delivered a pilot interview skills day. A number of students from the Pathways scheme attended a half day of activities which included advice on applying for a training contract, attending an interview, presentation skills, a practice interview and an opportunity to network with our trainees.

Future initiatives
Our trainees have proposed a number of initiatives in conjunction with Widening Participation and Pathways at Manchester, Leeds and Warwick universities.  They have developed a mentoring scheme for post Pathways students in the first two years of their university degrees.    The trainees support them through their degrees by drawing on their own experiences and offer assistance with areas such as the Legal Practice Course, the Graduate Diploma in Law, applying for a training contract and vacation schemes.

Our trainees are currently working on a guide to the legal profession aimed at 16-18 year olds, as well as a regular e-newsletter which will be available to university and post Pathways students about life as a Cobbetts trainee. We are also introducing a debating competition aimed at sixth form students and our trainees will be visiting schools to talk about debating and life as a lawyer.

Progression to the Professions
In 2010 we launched an event for students at the start of their GCSEs from the Widening Participation and Aim Higher areas.  We hosted a formal dinner to introduce students to the world of business.  The objective of the event was to offer information and inspiration and to advise the students how to gain progression into the professions.  Speakers attended from accountancy firm BDO, Yorkshire Bank, Rex Procter Construction, along with one of our own lawyers.

Following on from the success of this event we recently welcomed 30 year ten pupils into our Birmingham office for an evening of coaching on careers, training and personal development.  In conjunction with the Education Business Partnership for Birmingham (BXL) and Aim Higher this event included a workshop on making a successful university application, advice from one of our lawyers, a surveyor from Jones Lang LaSalle and an accountant from KPMG.  The pupils also received a motivational talk from performance artist and former Birmingham Poet Laureate, the Dreadlockalien (Richard Grant).