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Pale, male, middle-aged and middle-class: that's the predictable palette of our legal profession. So it's a pleasant surprise to meet a young, black, single mother from south London who is set to qualify as a solicitor - one of a rising number of female and ethnic minority recruits who are changing the face of English law.
Christina Haynes joined the Crown Prosecution Service, the largest law firm in England and Wales, in July 2004 as a personal assistant to the branch crown prosecutor. It was a general administrative role that the 26-year-old hoped would add practical experience to the law degree she was studying at London Metropolitan University.
But her decision to join the CPS was mainly based on a rumour from a friend that sounded almost too good to be true - the service ran a training scheme that offered full financial assistance to non-legal employees, such as secretaries and receptionists, who wished to qualify in law. She is almost incredulous at how her circumstances have changed.
"It was a struggle financially, being a full-time student and having to cope with living on money from the student loan," explains Haynes. "I am a single mother as well - I did feel a bit stressed out. To be working at the same time as receiving a scholarship has got rid of the worry of money."
In an attempt to address the gender imbalance in the higher grades of the CPS, the law officers introduced the innovative law scholarship scheme in 2003, with the support of then solicitor general Harriet Harman. The scheme provides a career path "from filing cabinet to bench", bringing more diversity into the profession by allowing scholars to study while working at the CPS.
Unusually for the male-dominated criminal justice system, women are in the majority at the CPS: 67% of its 8,000 employees are female. Yet women are mainly clustered at the bottom of the pay and responsibility grades, usually in administrative positions.
Recent figures revealed only 13 of the 42 chief crown prosecutors are women. And while 42% of the UK's more than 100,000 solicitors with practising certificates are women, they tend to be in more junior positions - just 23% of partners in law firms are female.
Harman, now minister of state at the Department for Constitutional Affairs, says she supports the scheme for two reasons. "We need to diversify the legal profession from overwhelmingly white and overwhelmingly male, and we want to get judges who are more representative of the people who are appearing before them and have an understanding of the world outside of Oxford and Cambridge.
"The second reason is that there are people who are caseworkers and admin people at the CPS who have been doing their jobs for years, going to court, sitting behind counsel and are far more experienced and knowledgeable than counsel."
There are advantages for the entire criminal justice system if women are employed throughout its corridors of power, argues gender equality campaign organisation the Fawcett Society. "The criminal justice system is still very male-dominated. A glass ceiling is in place with very few women working at senior levels," says its director, Katherine Rake. "The CPS scheme is important not just for those women who are given the opportunity to make the most of their talents, but for all women who come into contact with the criminal justice system.
"The needs of women victims and offenders would be much better understood if women were better represented among those who hold power in the system."
Since the scheme's launch three years ago, 549 staff members have signed up. Fifty-five have already qualified as solicitors or barristers, and most have remained with the CPS rather than leaving for the fuller pay packages of private law firms.
The most promising part of the picture, however, is the diversity of the scholars. Admin staff tend to be women, many of whom are returning to work after having families, or from ethnic minorities, not traditionally groups that can afford to fund expensive legal training themselves. Women make up 70% of the scheme's scholars, and black and minority ethnic (BME) staff total 35%. It is also beginning to attract younger aspirants: enrolments from the 16- to 24-year-old age range increased to 17% in 2005-06 from 3% the previous year.
The increase in ethnic minority scholars is especially impressive considering past allegations of racism within the CPS. In 2001, an independent investigation came to some damning conclusions, with the report's author, Sylvia Denman, saying: "For a large public employer, the CPS has responded slowly to modern equal opportunities legislation and practice ... 'Institutional racism' is at work within the service, which does have a problem with how it deals with its BME staff."
The report's recommendations included positive action programmes to redress the under-representation of minority ethnic staff. And last year, the tide seemed to have turned - 14.8% of all CPS employees were of ethnic minority origin, compared with the civil service average of 8.25%. Among CPS staff at senior level, the figure is 8.7%; the government target is just 3.2%.
Scholars receive 100% financial support for their training, which can include an A-level, law degree, legal practice or bar vocational course, and practical experience as a trainee solicitor or pupil barrister. Candidates have to be CPS employees who have passed a probation period.
The opportunity is proving popular with employees and the number of scholars is increasing every year. "The statistics show that people who wouldn't normally think about being a lawyer or a solicitor have thought, 'Actually, yeah, I could do that'," says Stevie Richards, CPS learning operations manager.
Other government departments are looking to the CPS for inspiration, with Harman determined to launch it elsewhere. "Ultimately, what I'd like to see is that, whether you work in the police, the CPS or the magistrates' court, there is access to a law scholarship scheme," she says.
Although women were first admitted to the legal profession in 1922, they continue to experience entrenched cultural and practical barriers to career progression. This scheme looks as though it is beginning to effect a positive change.
"There are a lot of people like me who are working part-time and have a family to look after," says Haynes, who has been promoted to a role as caseworker while continuing to attend evening law lectures. "But a lot of people have high hopes for themselves, and they can do this no matter who they are or what background they are from."
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