EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Work experience, legal and otherwise, is one of the most useful entries on your CV and is a must for any aspiring lawyer. Given the number of would-be lawyers in the student population at the moment, how do you maximise your chances of gaining work experience that will impress legal recruiters? To get a look in, you need to think creatively – Angela Smith, careers team manager at The University of Law Leeds, shows you how! Gaining work experience is one of the most useful things you can do, in terms of both improving your CV and genuinely discovering whether your notion of life in a law firm matches the reality. But what do you do when the competition for vacation scheme places is this intense and work experience seems difficult to come by? The answer is to widen your horizons. There are numerous ‘lateral’ activities that you can do which will increase your legal knowledge and impress future employers. Some of these you may not have considered as being helpful in terms of a legal career, but trust me, they are – and you might even enjoy them. Pro bono To begin with, you don’t need to be actively pursuing a career in legal aid to get yourself involved in pro bono work, which involves the provision of free legal advice and assistance to individuals and groups. The work is hands-on, dealing with real clients who have real legal dilemmas. The current University of Law pro bono schemes encompass such activities as providing advice to clients, giving presentations to community organisations on legal topics, writing articles and assisting clients in local county courts. You can see the array of useful skills acquired and honed –
communication, research, drafting, teamwork – and if you can see them, so can employers. Large firms are keen to display their community engagement credentials and a recent survey of HR managers in large law firms revealed that an interest in pro bono work was the most attractive aspect of a candidate’s CV. This makes sense when you consider that the essential framework of any legal career – the ability to grasp and explain legal concepts to laypeople in comprehensible terms – is present in pro bono. Volunteering Other volunteering opportunities could involve spending time at Citizens Advice (particularly if you can do evening shifts) or acting as an appropriate adult for young offenders and other vulnerable individuals at police stations. Full training will be given before you have to go it alone. If that type of role doesn’t appeal, there are other voluntary roles within the criminal justice system – perhaps mentoring offenders? The national charity Victim Support is always seeking assistance from volunteers. Get involved and you could find yourself giving emotional or practical help to a victim of crime or, by volunteering with the Witness Service, offering support and information to people attending court. For insight into the practical workings of the court system, what could be better? And speaking as an ex-Crown Prosecution Service lawyer myself, I can confirm that the work of volunteers to assist with confused and sometimes distressed witnesses is invaluable. Join the cops Have you ever thought about being a special constable? Despite the expansion of the role of the police community support officer, police forces are still seeking ‘specials’ to work alongside regular officers. Similar to ordinary police officers, they are sworn in at court or before a
magistrate and have the same powers in law, including the power of arrest. Specials are required to do a minimum of 16 hours per month, which could involve attending football matches or dealing with missing person enquiries and road traffic accidents. Unusual? Perhaps, but if you are seeking a career in the legal aid sector, you will be able to show employers that you have seen it in operation from a unique angle! An added advantage is that you might be able to fit your role around existing academic commitments. Get charitable Charities such as Amnesty International often welcome student assistance in the form of representation on campus and help to organise and run campaigns and fundraising events. While not work experience in the strictest sense, involvement with these organisations demonstrates that you are not only clued up on current issues, but also commercially aware (you understand what will help bring in business and raise funds) – a vital skill for lawyers. Think small Also unpaid, but still worthwhile, is spending time during your holidays doing unpaid work in a small firm (these practices generally don’t run paid vac schemes). In return for doing routine admin tasks, you could be invited to shadow a solicitor at court or to carry out a client interview. Before contacting firms, ensure that your CV looks good and up to date, and consult your careers service about drafting a speculative letter. And even if you don’t have the time or financial ability to work in a firm unpaid, you could still ask to shadow a solicitor for a few days.
Earning potential I appreciate that financial
considerations may preclude using even part of your spare time to do unpaid work. For those of you with previous experience in a legal setting, try finding
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