‘Echoes of the old boys club’: social mobility in IP

24-08-2022

Muireann Bolger

‘Echoes of the old boys club’: social mobility in IP

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As a new report highlights a social mobility gap in law, lawyers tell Muireann Bolger that a new mindset and a spot of rule-breaking is required to close it.

Alice Stephenson’s journey to IP career success is an inspirational one. Pregnant at 18, and disowned and left homeless by her family, she ignored those who dismissed her dream of a successful professional career as she became a teenage mother.

“I was still determined to pursue a career even though I had a young child. Financially, things were incredibly challenging for me: we really didn't have very much at all,” she reflects. “I had to work alongside studying and being a Mum”.

But the head of Stephenson Law proved the naysayers wrong. After fighting ‘tooth and nail’ to get into university, she worked in human resources and then embarked on a second career as a lawyer.


Stephenson IP, Alice Stephenson, social mobility, D&I, socio-economic, privilege, legal sector, mentorship

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