Social mobility

“We want to challenge the perception that law is elitist and help generate interest in the profession from a wider community. The Sutton Trust works with students who are yet to determine their choices in terms of university course and profession. That is the optimal time for us to engage with these young people. We were the first patent and trade mark firm to join The Sutton Trust. It is our goal to improve awareness of, and access to, the wonderful profession in which we work.”

Matthew Spencer

PARTNER

Jodie Johnson, IT Trainer, has an active role in supporting social mobility at this firm.

“My interest in getting involved with the firm’s strategy on social mobility was originally piqued when I attended a seminar held by The Sutton Trust at the firm. Social mobility and education is something I’m really passionate about – I’m a qualified trainer and part-qualified teacher, and come from a single parent household, having grown up on a council estate. I feel strongly about promoting inclusivity within the firm.”

We want to help reduce the inequalities within the IP sector. Our social mobility strategy aims to improve the diversity of candidates we recruit and support the progression of talented people, regardless of background. One of our objectives is to widen the access to the IP attorney profession and we are working with The Sutton Trust to help us achieve this. We are also looking at improving our workforce data relating to social mobility to help us track the socio-economic make up of our staff in order that we can hold ourselves accountable and help us ensure we are maintaining a diverse workforce.

The Sutton Trust
Since November 2020, we have been proud to partner with The Sutton Trust. The Sutton Trust is a charity that champions social mobility, by supporting young people’s ability to access leading universities and careers, regardless of their background. This is achieved through various programmes, including Pathways to Law and Pathways to Engineering.

We share an ambition to increase equality, diversity and inclusivity in the IP profession. We believe in recruiting the best and brightest graduates, based on talent as opposed to background. We are passionate about the work we are doing alongside The Sutton Trust. The charity works with students who are yet to determine their choice of university course and, subsequently, profession. We feel this is the perfect time to engage with them, to raise awareness of the variety of potential careers in IP. We want to inspire people from all backgrounds, and to help break down the social barriers they might face when considering a career in IP.

We have delivered several Pathways programmes for both patents and trade marks. During the sessions we explore routes into the IP profession and the various roles that exist within our firm and the IP industry. We also try and teach some transferable skills, such as CV preparation and networking.

“We are delighted to work with Boult who offer an incredibly valuable opportunity to Sutton Trust students giving them a unique insight into IP Law and a brilliant chance to meet with lawyers in person, which will be instrumental in increasing the social mobility of IP Law. We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Boult over the coming years.”
Katy Hampshire, Director of Programmes, Sutton Trust

Virtual open days
We chose to digitalise open days to give better access to the programme. We don’t want geographic location or economic situations to restrict people. We want to give the widest possible cohort the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of our profession and the culture of the firm and ground-breaking clients we work with.

“It really opened my eyes to the world of IP and opened up to another way of tackling higher education. I really got to see how skills and knowledge are actually applied.”
Pathways student attending our placement

Stats on 2023 open day

100% of attendees considered the open day to be excellent or very good.
98% of participants replied that they would apply to Boult for a job because of the programme.
98% participants thought they could be themselves at the firm.
64% of participants attended a state-run or state-funded school.

Responsible business

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

At Boult we believe in being inclusive and creating a working environment where everyone can comfortably be themselves

WELLBEING

Maintaining the wellbeing of our people is of critical importance to Boult.

COMMUNITY

We have a robust responsible business strategy that underpins our approach to our society and the environment – it is something we take very seriously.