Social Mobility and the Legal Profession

Social mobility, access to the professions, and the efficacy of professional associations in affecting the profession with which they are intertwined come together here in an exploration of access to the UK Bar.

Elaine Freer is a criminal barrister at 5 Paper Buildings (Chambers of Miranda Moore QC and Julian Christopher QC), where she prosecutes and defends in criminal and regulatory matters in the Youth, Magistrates' and Crown Courts. She is also a Fellow at Robinson College, Cambridge, where she holds a part-time post as a College Teaching Officer, supervising undergraduate students in the modules of Criminal Law and Criminology, Sentencing and the Penal System. Prior to pupillage she completed a PhD in Law at Keele University, which examined the operation of professional associations, focussing on an attempt to improve social mobility at the Bar.

1. Social mobility and the professions in the 21st Century 2. Social mobility and the legal profession - getting in and getting on 3. Conceptualising professional associations - powerful or power-hungry? 4. Values, attachment and professional associations 5. The importance of individuals within professional associations 6. Transformative action for social mobility: Radical innovation or maintenance of status quo? 7. Wider constraints on interventions by professional associations: Challenges within and challenges without? 8. Putting theory into practice - general themes for access schemes 9. Conclusions and postscript