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Diversity

Equality and Diversity

Landmark is committed to the furtherance of equality and diversity at the Bar. A copy of Chambers’ Equality and Diversity Policy can be obtained here.

Access to the Legal Profession

Landmark is keen to improve social mobility at, and access to, the legal profession and the Bar. It believes that by working towards a profession that is ‘representative of all and for all’; we can better serve our clients and our wider communities. To support this aim we are committed to a number of initiatives that seek to improve access to the profession and to assist in addressing some of the barriers that often stand in the way of developing a career as a barrister or in a supporting role in Chambers.

Opportunities for all

Mentoring scheme for aspiring planning and environmental barristers

Landmark Chambers firmly believes that widening access to the Bar can only serve to drive excellence by enabling us to draw on as wide a pool of talented aspiring barristers as possible.

Along with five other sets specialising in Planning, Property and Public Law, we have set up a mentoring scheme for underrepresented groups at the Bar. The scheme is supported by the Planning and Environmental Bar Association (PEBA) and is intended to encourage undergraduates and postgraduates from groups which are not well represented at the Bar, to consider becoming barristers. The scheme aims to provide advice and guidance to suitable candidates on the process of becoming a barrister.

PEBA and each of the partner Chambers recognises the importance of greater equality and diversity in the Bar. The hope is that this Mentoring Scheme will lay the foundations to creating a profession that is representative of all and for all, by introducing those from non-traditional backgrounds to the profession.

Bridging the Bar

Landmark offers additional mini-pupillages, over and above its usual quota, to Bridging the Bar, a charity which aims to increase diversity at the Bar by ensuring equal access to opportunity, through a structured mini-pupillage programme and mentoring scheme.

Bridging the Bar organises access to Landmark’s additional mini-pupillages so as to ensure the greatest possible level of access to those people from underrepresented groups.

10,000 Black Interns Programme

The 10,000 Black Interns programme is an initiative to transform the horizons and prospects of young Black people in the United Kingdom, by offering paid work experience across a wide range of industries. The aim is to provide training and development opportunities and to create a sustainable cycle of mentorship and sponsorship for the Black community.

Landmark has committed to providing paid work experience through the programme, where the interns will have the opportunity to shadow our barristers across our core practice areas. Bar Council’s Social Mobility Foundation Bar Placement Scheme The Inner Temple’s Pegasus Access and Support Scheme

Rare Contextual Recruitment System

Landmark utilises the Rare Contextual Recruitment System to inform our mini-pupillage and pupillage recruitment processes, as part of our commitment to being an inclusive Chambers.

Rare is a multi-award-winning diversity company which uses big data to map the social, financial and educational background of candidates, to ensure that brilliant candidates are identified and given the chance to flourish. The system works by combining publicly-available information with candidates’ anonymised responses gleaned as part of the application process. The result delivers two outputs: social mobility flags to measure disadvantage; and Performance Index (PI), to measure outperformance compared to students at the same school. This enables candidates’ academic results to be put into context, where possible, and in particular to factor in any socio-economic, personal or educational disadvantage to which a candidate may have been subject. This way of identifying candidates who have over-achieved in the light of their wider personal circumstances, or whose achievements should be seen in the light of specific challenges they have faced, should put them on a more equal footing against candidates who have not faced these obstacles.

Landmark Mini-Pupillage Scheme – Financial Support

Landmark Chambers believes that it is important to ensure that students from all backgrounds are able to undertake their mini-pupillage at minimal expense to themselves and, in doing so, improve social mobility at, and access to, the Bar.

Chambers therefore offers all mini-pupils a maximum reimbursement of £100 for reasonable travel and lunch expenses. Additionally, Landmark operates a discretionary accommodation funding scheme for students visiting from outside of London.

Women in Law Pledge

Landmark Chambers is making the Women in Law Pledge for three important reasons. First is the absolute belief that people of all genders are valued and that Landmark should be a place of equal opportunity for all barristers and staff. Second is that the Pledge will give us the opportunity to publicly share the work already being done to make Landmark a champion of promoting women in law. Third, the Pledge will formalise specific targets for Landmark to focus on over the next few years, increasing the chances of success in achieving them.

Landmark Chambers wants to attract the very best barristers and staff and to encourage and support professional development with a view to being a place where people want to stay. Women are underrepresented in law and Landmark is no exception. We want to attract more female barristers to join us and to stay and develop their careers. The Pledge targets for Landmark Chambers were chosen with these goals in mind. The more successful Landmark is at meeting the needs of its female barristers, the more attractive it will be to new applicants. As we move forward, we will regularly review the proportion of women entering Law and how Landmark compares locally and nationally.

TARGET 1: Five female members of Chambers to take Silk by 2025.

TARGET 2: Over the next five years (to 2025) there will be parity between the retention rates of female and male members of Chambers at Landmark.

TARGET 3: To employ at least two female clerks at Practice Manager level or above by 2025.

We are proud of and excited by our targets. Meeting them will require sustained dedication from all barristers and staff. We are motivated by the shared confidence in the knowledge that achieving our targets will enrich Landmark and the legal profession as a whole.

Further information regarding the Women in Law Pledge, may be found on the Bar Council’s website and on the Law Society’s website.