Our managing partner, Jane Armitage has often mentioned the work Jacksons does with students from schools and colleges in our local community, in her weekly blog. Some of the support we offer includes work experience and mentoring programmes, where we work closely with the students and give them an insight to what it is like working in a law firm. However, we thought that we would try and do something a little bit different and we were therefore delighted to welcome 12 High Tide students to Jacksons last Tuesday for a ‘legal experience’ day during Northern Law Week.
As a trainee I was keen to be involved in the planning of a full day of activities, for the students, along with the other four trainees at Jacksons and to give them as much information as possible to help them make a decision on whether a career in law is the right one for them. I remember how daunting it can be making those tough decisions about the future, having gone through the process myself as a young student and we all need as much help as we can get.
So, the big day arrived when we had 12 excited young students sitting in our reception area, bursting with enthusiasm and keen to get on with the day.
Once we got them settled into our boardroom, and to help break the ice, the trainees took it in turn to speak about our experience to get to this point in our career and how Jacksons has supported us throughout our time as a trainee with the firm. We also wanted to emphasis the fact that you don’t need to become a lawyer to have a successful career in law, and that there are other opportunities to consider such as legal executive and legal secretary roles and the new law apprenticeship scheme being trialled by the Law Society.
We then got them to do a bit of work which included a debate on a hot topic in the news; freedom of speech, on-line privacy and whether or not the government should be allowed to invade our privacy whilst trying to protect us from [terrorism]. Each of the students expressed their opinion on the topic and the general consensus was that there needs to be a balance between privacy and national security.
We finally conducted a mock trial where each of the students had the opportunity to interview witnesses played by trainees. Each student got to ask questions of the witnesses and try to pick holes in their stories. They then conducted their own legal research of their case and chose how to run their arguments. I had no idea my fellow trainees were such good actors!
All of the students participated in giving opening and closing speeches and questioning each of the witnesses. Congratulations to the defence team, who managed to convince the judge of diminished responsibility and get their client a non-custodial sentence. As the trainee playing the accused, I feel the verdict was justified, he had it coming!
Overall it was a great day for the students, the firm and the trainees. We all thoroughly enjoyed being able to provide an insight into the legal sector for young people and as always it was great to work with High Tide.
We hope we haven’t put them off having a legal career and that they will be back next year!
Feedback from some of the students:
‘I enjoyed researching the law as I was able to apply it to the trial.’
‘ …. the mock trial was really interesting because it simulated real life experience.’
‘I feel like I can make an informed decision about my career after today.’
‘conducting the mock trial helped to build my confidence.’
Jacksons has a long standing relationship with High Tide, offering week long work placements each year to their students. The firm also offers work placements to students from a number of schools and colleagues throughout the North East and offer a unique insight into working as a solicitor.
Should you wish to undertake work experience placement with Jacksons Law Firm please contact me at erobertson@jacksons-law.com
Emily Robertson, Trainee Solicitor
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