SHORTLISTED FOR THE EXCELLENCE IN LAW AWARDS 2021

We are proud to announce that SEO London has been shortlisted for the Law Society Awards, the highest accolade for law firms in England and Wales. Our City Solicitors Horizons (CSH) programme has been nominated in the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion category.

“The City Solicitors Horizons programme has broken new ground in the legal space for a social mobility programme by offering participants a highly-structured, multi-year, multi-firm, multi-mentor experience. While it was initially construed as a Corporate Social Responsibility endeavour, it has dramatically outpaced all our expectations for recruiting outcomes as well.  It’s great to see so many young people benefiting so tangibly from the programme, and to see the programme recognised for its amazing results”, commented Andrew Fairbairn, founder and chief executive of SEO London when receiving the news.

Every year, 50 first-year university students, either studying law or committed to pursuing a career in law, are selected to participate in an outstanding three-year support programme of training, mentoring and work placement alongside their undergraduate degrees. Since its launch in 2015, 104 CSH students have successfully started their professional lives in the legal industry, many of whom have joined one of the more than 25 prestigious law firms which have partnered with the programme over time.”

“Can a collaboration between a charity like SEO London and globally recognised commercial law firms be a match made in heaven? Yes, it can”, reflected Mimi McCulloch-James, senior manager of Corporate Law & City Solicitor Horizons Programmes at SEO London.  She continued: “Business reality dictates that investment be directed only to those projects that deliver financial returns. However, the collaboration between SEO London and CSH is not transactional, it rather fosters life-changing outcomes for talented young people. This shortlisting serves as public recognition of our joint mission to dissolve barriers to access for the socio-economically disadvantaged.”

Andrew Fairbairn further elaborated: “The CSH programme uniquely reflects a structured, holistic, multi-year collaboration between law firms that are normally hyper-competitive with one another, all in the service of social mobility.  No other programme operates in this way, and the results are incredibly powerful. SEO London’s mission is based on the fundamental premise of equal opportunity for all.  We see the CSH programme as a powerful vector of our mission in the legal industry and could not be prouder of its successes.”

The winners of the Law Society Awards will be announced in an online ceremony on 7 October.