Case for change - opening the legal profession to people with care-experience

For generations, the legal profession has prided itself on meritocracy - the idea that talent and hard work alone determine success. But for those who’ve grown up in care, the path into law has often been invisible. Care-experienced people remain among the most under-represented groups in the legal profession, and many who make it choose to keep their backgrounds private.

That’s beginning to change - thanks to people like Lucy Barnes, who grew up in care and is now a practising barrister. Together with youth justice specialist Kate Aubrey-Johnson, she has co-founded Lawyers Who Care - a movement working to open up the profession to people with care-experience and better represent those it serves.

Fuel from hope and the path to law

That hope became fuel. Lucy worked part-time jobs, studied late into the night, and seized every opportunity.

“I didn’t know a single lawyer. That world was alien to me. But I had to be creative - that’s one of the beautiful things about care experience. There is that creativity and resourcefulness that comes through not really having a choice.”

A chance encounter with a customer while working led to a business card, then work experience at a Magic Circle law firm, and later a place on Matrix Chambers’ scheme for disadvantaged young people.

“That was the moment I thought: I can really see myself doing this. Don’t get me wrong, I did feel like an alien and that I was very, very different  - the way they spoke was entirely new to me. I thought, I’m going to have to learn a new language to be in this world. But the job itself was so appealing.”

Alongside those experiences, Lucy was working and studying relentlessly to achieve the grades she needed.

“I would work at my part-time job very early in the morning. I’d then go home and study until about four in the morning. I had such limited sleep because I had to work so much harder than my peers - to mitigate the chaos.”

But that effort paid off.
“Getting into university was the best day for me,” Lucy recalls. “That was really my escape route - my clean slate.”

At university, Lucy initially kept her care background hidden.

“The society’s kind of stigma very much seeped into me. I didn’t tell anyone because I thought people would see me as less capable. I’ll never forget a placement where a senior barrister asked what my parents did. I told him I was from a foster care background, and I could feel the pity oozing out of him. I always say that pity is the backhand of prejudice because care experienced people have such a fierce sense of intuition and we can sense when someone's not seeing us as our equal”.

This caution followed her into her first pupillage application - the final, highly competitive stage of training to become a barrister. She wasn’t successful.

“I was told by another barrister not to mention care experience because the profession ‘wasn’t there yet.’ Looking back, I think part of the reason I didn’t get it is because I wasn’t being authentic. My care experience is part of who I am. It’s not everything, but it’s important and I deserve not feel ashamed of it”

When she reapplied, Lucy decided to embrace her story fully.

“I decided I was going to be proud of my experience and show them what I’d achieved because of it, not in spite of it. And that was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

After Lucy secured pupillage, she made a conscious decision to speak publicly about being care-experienced.

“I first spoke about being care experienced when I found out I’d got pupillage - and I was so surprised by the reaction. I’d literally just joined Twitter and that post went everywhere. Suddenly all these people were reaching out, saying thank you, saying they felt able to be open too.”

Mentorship, training, and cultural change

With this shared belief in the potential of people with care experience, and the need for a more inclusive legal profession, Lucy and Kate set up Lawyers Who Care in 2024, aiming to break down barriers to the profession and support aspiring care-experienced lawyers. Largely care-experienced led, the organisation provides mentorship, work experience, and training for aspiring lawyers while also offering trauma-informed and care-aware training for mentors and legal professionals.

Already, the impact of Lawyers Who Care is being felt. There are 77 active mentoring relationships across the UK, each with a two-year commitment, and prestigious chambers and law firms have come on board. Experienced barristers and solicitors are also beginning to speak publicly about their own care backgrounds, inspired by Lucy’s openness. An impact report also found that 84% of professionals who completed the organisation’s care-aware and trauma-informed training felt better equipped to support their mentees – a sign of how understanding is translating into meaningful change.

“The purpose of Lawyers Who Care is to build self-esteem and also to give exposure to networking opportunities that won’t otherwise exist,” says Kate. “For children who’ve had 17 placements, disrupted education, no consistent adult in their life - there’s nobody to make those introductions or open those doors. That’s what we can offer.”

Lucy says having allies like Kate has been transformative: “Having champions like Kate - people who aren’t care-experienced but use their voice in the rooms where it matters - makes all the difference,” says Lucy. “Kate has had an incredible impact, not just on me but across the entire profession, simply by seeing us and standing alongside us. It shows that everyone has the power to advocate for care-experienced people - and many already are.”

She adds:

“I often say there’s no one face of being care experienced, just as there’s no one face of being a barrister. But I do think class is one of the hardest issues the profession still needs to grapple with. Being from poverty is not the same as being ‘working class’. For many of us, there’s an added layer of stigma. Lawyers Who Care is not just about helping care-experienced lawyers enter the profession - it’s also about raising aspirations for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds more broadly, showing them that they can achieve careers they might never have imagined.”

Lucy explains how this works in practice through reframing what society often labels as “negative” traits:

“As a child, people would say I backchat a lot - but that was actually me standing up against injustice. That was raw advocacy ability. Likewise, being called ‘bossy’ was really leadership potential that just wasn’t being nurtured. If someone had said, ‘instead of bossy, maybe you’ve got leadership skills we should hone,’ it could have shifted everything.”

That understanding shapes the way she now interacts with young people. She recalls visiting a special educational mental health needs school, where a girl with care experience approached her.

“She was incredibly witty and quick on her feet - and she swore quite a lot,” she laughs. “I think she expected me to go on the defensive, because that’s what she was used to her whole life. But instead, I turned around and said, ‘you’re really quick on your feet - has anyone ever told you you’d make a great lawyer?’ And she completely softened. It was like the first time anyone had ever told her that. We ended up having this amazing half-hour conversation, just me and her, showing her how that wit could be turned into advocacy.”

With the right mentoring and support, Lucy says, care-experienced talent will not just thrive - it will reshape the profession.

“When we first set out, people would say, ‘Are you sure that many care leavers will aspire for law?’ But in just under two years, we’ve really proven that - and I think there are so many more out there as well. It’s been amazing to see, because I genuinely have a theory that this profession is perfect for care-experienced young people. If there are care-experienced young people reading this, the raw skill set is already there. What’s needed is support and opportunities - whether from a foster parent, teacher, or mentor - to hone those skills. And I really believe that, in the future, care-experienced talent is going to wipe the floor with any King’s Counsel barrister.”

For more information on Lawyers who Care, visit lawyerswhocare.org