London

In London, we work with a number of schools, colleges and not-for-profit organisations to provide opportunities, skills training and advice to young people from age 5 to 18 aimed at raising aspirations,  giving  the students an insight into the world of work and helping them to develop essential skills. 

We have since 2007 been working with Manor Stratford Primary, a school in one of the city’s most disadvantaged boroughs, including running a weekly volunteer reading scheme, annual ‘world of work’ days at our office, sponsoring and helping to deliver an enterprise programme and helping to subsidise the cost of school trips.

Career Kick Start is our annual two week social mobility work experience programme, designed to provide 20 Year 12 students (aged 16-17) from non-advantaged backgrounds with a detailed understanding of life as a commercial lawyer.  The first week of the programme is spent at BCLP in a mix of work shadowing, skills workshops and insight sessions.  The second week is run in partnership with the Social Mobility Business Partnership, and the students participate in a series of one-day insight days, each hosted by a different BCLP client.  We pay all participants the London Living Wage for the duration of the programme.

We are members of Young Enterprise, the UK's leading business and enterprise education charity.  We host the annual regional finals of their flagship Companies Programme and volunteers from BCLP and our clients also volunteer to help deliver Young Enterprise programmes in  schools and colleges, including CV and interview skills masterclasses.

We are long term supporters of East End Community Foundation, and are one of the funders of EECF’s Life Chances Fund, an innovative multi-borough giving scheme that funds frontline organisations and community groups to provide essential support to enrich the lives of residents across the East End.

In our UK offices, we run regular Donate Our Time (“DOT”) days, combining workgroup teambuilding with volunteering in the community, in a variety of ways - including working with food poverty charities and creating and maintaining community open spaces.  We are always happy to organise joint BCLP/client DOT days. 

We have an active charity fundraising programme.  Through an internal nomination and selection process, our UK offices choose a charity to support each year.  For 2024, our UK charity of the year is Mummy’s Star, whose vision is for everyone diagnosed with cancer in and around pregnancy to be able to access support free of charge, in a timely manner.  In addition to running events and challenges in aid of our Charity of the Year, we also run fundraising events and collections in kind for other charities, tackling issues such as access to justice and food poverty.