City firms Baker & McKenzie, Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy joined forces to launch a steering group promoting diversity in the legal profession last week.

The group, headed by Brenda King, chairwoman of the not-for-profit organisation African & Caribbean Diversity, will encourage best practice among human resources (HR) professionals in City firms.

Simon Luckett, HR manager at Baker & McKenzie, said the group would co-ordinate with the financial and medical sectors to see how the measures they are taking to create a more diverse pool of applicants - such as open days and outreach projects - could be adopted by law firms.

He said that City firms' current emphasis on A-Level results was a bar to many students from ethnic minorities.

He added that the group was very interested in initiatives such as the specially designed tests recently adopted by some universities, which measure an individual's potential rather than their coaching.

He said: 'Diversity is increasingly a priority on the management committee's agenda in City firms.

As much as 80% of our work is international, and firms need to reflect the global market.'

Rachel Rothwell