Five City firms have pledged more than £350,000 over the next five years to help attract a more diverse spread of talent into the legal profession.


The donation will help fund the Pathways to Law initiative, jointly launched by the College of Law and the Sutton Trust in October 2006.



The initiative targets potential law students from state schools and non-professional backgrounds who will be the first in their families to go on to university.



It was launched after a Sutton Trust report found that three out of four top judges, more than two-thirds of top barristers and more than half the partners at leading law firms had been educated at private schools.



The five law firms donating funds are Allen & Overy, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Lovells.



Nigel Savage, chief executive of the College of Law, said the firms' contributions brought 'authoritative weight... to the project, showing their determination to widen access to the law. Their help in providing work placements within their firms will be especially valuable'.



Jonathan Rayner