A lawyer based at one of the world’s most remote courts, who wrote on LinkedIn how he defied a teacher’s advice to ‘set his sights low’ due to his background, has received over 26,000 likes of his article.
Ben Brown, Crown Counsel at the Attorney General’s Chambers on the remote islands of St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, explained how he defied a teacher at his secondary school who told him he wasn’t ‘university material’.
“I was raised in a council house by a single-parent family, left school with mediocre GCSEs and obtained a 2:1 from an ex-polytechnic university.
“I’m proud of all these things. Seven years later I’m on a Covid-free tropical island in the job of my dreams, responsible for prosecuting all criminal cases in a British Overseas Territory.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself because of how unbelievable it is.
“I’ve had hundreds of messages from Law students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are concerned and worried that their upbringing or state education is a bar from a career in Law. It’s not – at all – and it’s been so nice to offer words of support and encouragement to those budding lawyers.”
Did you see this article recently in CityAM? “Out with the old: Time to reform the legal profession for the benefit of all sides.” Social mobility, diversity and inclusion are very much in the minds of those of us tasked with recruiting the next generation of talent into the Law.
As Global Legal Post reported here, whilst law firms dominated the Social Mobility Foundation’s 2020 UK Employer Index, which recognises efforts to improve socio economic diversity, the vast majority of graduate recruits to the profession continue to be from Russell Group universities – a grouping of 24 ‘world-class, research-intensive universities’.
How should the profession change? I’d like to think Ben Brown’s one such exemplar setting the stage for the profession’s future evolution.
If you’re interested in a career in the Law never let anyone tell you that you’re not good enough.
Michael Kashis, is the Managing Partner at Bishop & Sewell and Head of our expert Corporate & Commercial Team. You can contact him on 020 7631 4141 or you can email company@bishopandsewell.co.uk.
The above is accurate as at 26 March 2021. The information above may be subject to change during these ever-changing times.
The content of this note should not be considered legal advice and each matter should be considered on a case by case basis.
