Guest post by Nicholas Lee, managing director of Paragon Costs Solutions in Bristol
Lee: Work experience should not be a passive exercise
Thinking back to 1999 when I had the pleasure of work experience, I made tea, collected lunch and mostly watched someone work. I was a silent observer for two of a scheduled five days and was offered little explanation of what I was observing. I didn’t bother with the last three days. I am not sure they noticed my absence.
I had little meaningful insight. I felt like a burden. There was no structure.
Like many experiences in life, they shape how we conduct ourselves as individuals, lawyers and leaders.
Work experience should not be a passive exercise, with students spending a week observing from the sidelines. My view and approach to work experience is that if we are asking young people to invest their time in understanding our profession, we should give them meaningful opportunities to engage with it.
In July this year, I had the privilege of hosting five work experience students from three schools across Bristol and Bath. This is the third year Paragon Costs has run this programme.
Over the course of the week, the students:
Prepared and delivered a client pitch to a real client: This required them to understand my firm, understand my client, consider how our cultures aligned and define the services we can offer. They then had to condense that into a 10-minute pitch which they delivered to one of our clients.
Undertook their first job interview: They were each given different job descriptions for roles within a law firm, some fee-earning and some not.
They had to think about the skills required for each role and prepare to be interviewed. They each interviewed each other, providing feedback on whether they demonstrated the skills that would be required for that role.
Reviewed commercial contracts and identified contradictory and potentially unfair terms: In a very dramatic fashion, I called them into the boardroom and explained we had a client arriving in 30 minutes.
They needed to review a fictitious contract and identify inconsistences and unfair terms. They correctly identified that a default interest rate of 50% appeared to be unfair.
Prepared closing submissions for a criminal trial: They were provided with fictious witness summaries of a criminal trial and had to prepare closing submissions on why the defendant was guilty or not, depending on their roles.
Considered the critical support functions that enable a law firm to operate effectively and debated which are most essential: Despite what some may believe, law it not about all the lawyers. There are critical roles in a law firm that enable a business to function.
They had to identity those roles, define their importance and rate their importance. I won’t divulge their conclusions but suffice to say they recognised the importance of all the support functions that sit within a law firm.
Attended an employment tribunal hearing and two serious trials in the Crown Court: How can you have work experience in law without going to court? I am humble enough to admit that this was the aspect that I had the least influence over but was most enjoyable to them.
Seeing how what they had learnt comes together in a courtroom was invaluable. So much so, that a number of students returned to the courts the following week to observe more live cases.
Beyond the technical exercises, they were required to think independently, present to unfamiliar audiences, defend their reasoning, and operate outside their comfort zones. These are skills that underpin success not only in law, but in any professional environment.
“It takes a village to raise a child”
As a profession, we have a responsibility to provide meaningful insight into legal careers and to help develop the next generation of talent. Giving students genuine exposure to the challenges, responsibilities and opportunities within the legal sector is one small way of doing that.
It was a rewarding week and a pleasure to work with such an engaged and capable group of young people. Their enthusiasm, confidence and willingness to embrace new challenges gave me great confidence in the talent coming through.
Some may be future employees. Some may be future opponents. Some may never have a career in law. But they all now have some meaningful and transferrable experience that will help them in whatever path they choose.
So often I hear that students struggle to find work experience, particularly in law where who you know can be important. We have intentionally partnered with state schools with a high population of disadvantaged pupils, removing socio-economical barriers.
I hope this blog encourages more in our profession to offer meaningful experience to students. It will not generate fees or win you new business. But it will give you a great deal of satisfaction and a genuine sense of giving back to your community.
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