Addleshaw Goddard ranked Top 5 employer for social mobility

Addleshaw Goddard (AG), the UK headquartered international law firm, has been ranked 5th in the prestigious Social Mobility Employer Index 2025.

The Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) ranks leading UK employers based on the actions they have taken to improve social mobility in the workplace. Addleshaw Goddard’s rapid climb up the rankings to 5th, from 11th (2024), 36th (2023) and 70th (2022), underlines the firm’s commitment to opening up access to the legal profession.

Addleshaw Goddard’s actions to ensure we embrace talent from all socio-economic backgrounds include:

Extending our flagship Legal Explorers programme which offers quality work experience and mentoring for 16-17-year-old students who meet our social mobility criteria. We now run this programme across our London, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dublin offices.
Our Legal Access Week programme which offers students located in cold spot areas of the UK a week of virtual work experience and the opportunity to meet both AG staff and some of our key clients;
Widening our Apprenticeship Programmes to include both legal apprentice opportunities and business services opportunities. By creating more pathways to our business, we hope to attract and develop the best talent for the future of our business
Developing our internal social mobility employee network to maximise engagement for our outreach programmes (and develop new ones) whilst also providing learning and development opportunities internally for our people.

This is about widening the gate, not lowering the barrier. Opening up access to the legal profession and making our recruitment processes as inclusive as possible is key to ensuring we welcome a diverse pipeline of talented people into our firm who reflect our clients and the communities in which we operate.

Andrew Johnston

Managing Partner of Addleshaw Goddard

“We want AG to be an employer that offers people the opportunity to succeed and fulfil their potential, regardless of their background. We know we have more to do and will take inspiration from the great work of other employers in the Index.”

Sarah Atkinson, CEO of the Social Mobility Foundation, adds:

“Congratulations to Addleshaw Goddard for their success in this year’s Social Mobility Employer Index. Placing in the top 5 is a major achievement, showing real commitment to acting on the Index’s recommendations and creating a workplace that’s open to everyone, regardless of background.

“Employers that join the Index are leaders in building a culture where everyone can thrive, leading to more representative, innovative, successful organisations.”

About the Social Mobility Employer Index 

The Social Mobility Employer Index was launched in 2017 and has become the leading authority on employer-led social mobility. It assesses and ranks UK employers on the actions they take to ensure they are open to talent from all social backgrounds and provides them with feedback to improve.

The Social Mobility Employer Index evaluates employers across eight areas: work with young people, attraction of staff and university outreach, recruitment and selection, routes into the employer, data collection, pay, progression and retention, culture and internal advocacy, and external advocacy. Employers are then benchmarked. The data and insights from this process are published in an annual Employer Index Report which features a ranking of the 75 top-performing employers on social mobility that year.