Law firm Muckle strives to increase social mobility
LAW
Community champion – Hugh Welch, Muckle LLP’ s senior partner and head of the firm’ s ESG programme.
Law firm Muckle strives to increase social mobility
PICTURES: MIKE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY
Levelling the playing field
Regional talent – Lauryn Hellewell, from Darlington, is the latest Muckle solicitor to qualify through the North East Solicitor Apprenticeship scheme.
Career opportunities are not spread equally across the country, with the North-East being one of the lowest-performing regions in terms of social mobility. But regional businesses can make a huge difference to this and local commercial law firm Muckle LLP is striving to do so.
Social mobility links an individual’ s professional status with that of their background or circumstances. For example, if someone from a working class background has a professional job, they are said to have achieved a high level of upward social mobility.
While this sounds great in theory, these opportunities are still very dependent on where you live, with research from the Sutton Trust painting a stark picture of the regional divide. Perhaps unsurprisingly, while all of the top 20 constituencies found to have high levels of social mobility are in London, some of the lowestperforming constituencies are in the
North-East, such as Stockton North and Middlesbrough South.
So, what can we do about it?
Making an impact For local commercial law firm Muckle LLP, improving opportunities for all is a priority. As the first law firm in the North-East and Cumbria to achieve B Corp certification for its commitment to using“ business as a force for good”, the firm has long championed the importance of breaking down barriers to opportunity.
Hugh Welch, senior partner at Muckle and head of the firm’ s ESG work, thinks businesses have a vital part in this.
“ While individuals and the education system have an important role to play, businesses are in arguably one of the most powerful positions to make a difference,” he says.
“ We recognise that as a profitable law firm, we’ re in an extremely privileged position – but we’ re also in a position to
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