FAIRE: Fairer Access Into Real Experience

FAIRE: Revolutionising social mobility and access to a career in the legal sector

Over 80,000 attendees have joined our FAIRE events so far.

At Browne Jacobson we believe the legal profession needs all voices to reflect the society it serves, so we’re passionate about finding innovative ways to attract diverse talent. People from lower socio-economic and minority backgrounds are still hugely underrepresented in the legal profession. We want to change this. We want to break down barriers to accessing a legal career and help everyone - whatever their background - get a foot in the door.

We’ve set up FAIRE (Fairer Access Into Real Experience) to revolutionise the way law firms encourage diverse talent into the profession, and to grow an industry-wide culture of inclusivity. FAIRE aims to support social mobility, offering students equal access to paid work experience that can pave the way for a career in the legal sector.

FAIRE has two key programmes

1. FAIRE Work Experience

Opportunities for up to 80 people from lower socio-economic backgrounds to attend paid in-person work experience at one of our offices. The programme runs three times a year, usually in April, August and October. Attendees are typically identified in collaboration with widening participation teams at universities and colleges, as well as social mobility charities.

We also enter into partnership with our clients and support them to place FAIRE students in their organisations. We have a successful FAIRE partnership with the Welsh Government.

2. FAIRE Virtual Insight

A day-long programme of talks, tips and networking opportunities with leaders from the legal profession. This free online event is open to anyone and offers a packed day to give people from lower socio-economic backgrounds into what it’s like to work in law.

The jam-packed schedules included workshops, keynote speakers and Q&A sessions, Speakers typically include trainees, high-profile solicitors, barristers and judges working in many different organisations, including Browne Jacobson.

Upcoming event

Previous FAIRE speakers

In recent years, speakers have included:

Baroness Hale of Richmond (Lady Hale, Former President of the Supreme Court)
Chrissie Wolfe (Lawyer, Influencer Nexa and Law and Broader)
Robert Hanna (CEO KC Partners, content creator and legal influencer)
Sally Penni MBE (Kenworthy’s Chambers)
Oluwapelumi (Amanda) Adeola (Partner, BHP Law)
Akil Hunte and Billy Shaw (NRG Lawyers)
Shaun Wallace (Barrister and star of ITV’s ‘The Chase’)
Chris Daw QC (Barrister, BBC TV presenter)
Ranae Oliver (in-house lawyer, Financial Ombudsman Service)
I. Stephanie Boyce (President of the Law Society)
Nathan Miebai (Senior District Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service)
Peter Watson (CEO of Watson’s Daily, the leading trainer of commercial awareness skills)

The virtual work experience and careers events offer people a glimpse of how a full-service UK and Ireland law firm works, as well as the various career options open to them. Attendees received an e-certificate to add to their CV to help boost future career prospects.

Our commitment to fair working practices

FAIRE is part of our firm-wide commitment to fair working practices, inclusivity, collaboration and making sure we’re at the forefront of conversations about how we can all tackle society's biggest issues. We’ve been widely recognised for our commitment to this. We’ve been recognised as the top law firm in the Social Mobility Employer Index for four years, including the overall top employer in 2021, 2022, and 2024.