In this episode, Philippa welcomes Tom Lyas, Head of Resourcing and Social Mobility at Browne Jacobson, where he has built one of the most impactful social mobility programmes in the UK legal sector and the architect behind FAIRE, an initiative that has opened up real work experience to over 87,000 aspiring legal professionals, many from communities historically shut out of the professions entirely. Under his leadership, Browne Jacobson became the number one ranked employer in the Social Mobility Foundation index. Tom has given evidence in the House of Lords, been named LexisNexis Legal Awards Personality of the Year, and was recently recognised as Leader of the Year at the British Recruitment Awards. His background spans industrial and retail recruitment, including Tesco and Whitbread, before joining Browne Jacobson nearly a decade ago. Together, they explore what fair access actually looks like when someone decides to build it from scratch, what it takes to change a hiring culture, and why the profession is better for it. In this conversation, you'll hear about: How Tom's early career in retail recruitment revealed a pattern hiding in plain sight: the candidate who was "a bit more polished" kept winning, and no one was asking whyWhat happened when Tom removed Browne Jacobson's academic grade requirements in his first week, the board meeting that followed, and the three bullet points that settled itHow FAIRE was born from a single data point: 96% of work experience placements were going to partners' and clients' children, and no one had noticedWhy Browne Jacobson high-fives when a student uses FAIRE to land a job at a rival firm, and what 87,000 participants and 4,500 tangible outcomes says about what the programme is actually forThe story behind the Reach mentoring programme and how the firm went from hiring one Black trainee in five years to 29% of a training cohort in year oneThe accent bias research commissioned with the University of Nottingham, what the findings revealed about professional services culture, and why having an accent is described as the last tabooWhy disclosure rates are Tom's single most important measure of culture, and what a 90%+ disclosure rate tells you about trust inside an organisationThe case for making socioeconomic background a protected characteristic, and where that conversation currently sitsHis advice to young people who feel professional services might not be for them, including a frank observation about what social media does to your sense of what success is supposed to look likeKey takeaway The hiring barriers blocking talented people from the professions were rarely designed to exclude them. They accumulated quietly because the people already inside never had to climb over them. Tom Lyas has spent a decade dismantling those barriers, one decision at a time, with data and a refusal to wait for permission. When you stop filtering for polish and start selecting for potential, the firm gets better too. The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction. Paradigm Norton Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is 455083. Registered in England. Reg No 4220937, VAT Reg. No 918550904.
