UK Report Says Legal Profession Is Too Socially Exclusive

The legal profession in the United Kingdom is too socially exclusive, drawing lawyers from well-to-do families and private schools, according to a report released today.

The report found that lawyers are more likely than other professionals to have grown up in affluent families, Legal Week reports. Lawyers born in 1970 came from families with incomes 64 percent higher than the national average.

The exclusivity extends to education, the report found. Seventy-five percent of judges and nearly 70 percent of barristers had a private education, compared to a national average of 7 percent, according to the Lawyer.

The report, by a panel chaired by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn, recommends the publication of information about the social backgrounds of professionals and students.