Jacky Kelly, Co-Head of Weil’s Global Structured Finance & Derivatives practice, and Rob Powell, Director of Pro Bono & Corporate Responsibility in London, have been profiled by Law.com International for their work to include social class as a protected characteristic under U.K. equality laws.

The article highlights the duo’s efforts representing pro bono client, the Reclaim Project, a charity in Manchester that offers aid to working-class people. One of the charity’s main goals is to amend the U.K.’s Equality Act to include social class as a protected characteristic, which would make it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of socioeconomic status.

Jacky and Rob shared why the objective is important to them, explaining how they both come from working-class backgrounds and had to persevere on their way to success in the elite legal realm.

Jacky told the publication about her experience interviewing at another firm when she was younger. “Things like accents, appearance, dress were very much remarked upon, noted, often negatively, and because of this a lot of people from working class backgrounds left City firms and changed direction as they didn’t think they fitted in,” she said.

Rob told Law.com International that the change in law would positively affect all areas of diversity.

“Changing the law is quite a cost effective mechanism for a government to make change,” he said. “It’s a lever that the government can pull, and it will be complementary to a lot of the existing work that already takes place within the private sector.

To read the entire profile, please visit Law.com International.