3 February 2010: College of Law’s Mentoring Scheme for Students Enjoys Record Growth
The College of Law’s annual mentoring scheme, which helps its students gain valuable insight into the realities of legal practice, is celebrating record growth as it launches once again this year.
The scheme, which recruits legal practitioners keen to pass on their knowledge to the next generation of professionals, now boasts nearly 640 mentors across the College’s seven centres, a growth of nearly a third compared with last year.
It has come a long way since its initial launch at the College’s Chester centre in 1997 with just nine mentors. The popularity of the programme with both students and mentors led to the extension of scheme to all of the College’s centres, making the College one of the first law schools in the country to deliver mentoring on a national scale.
Under the scheme students with limited access to the legal profession are matched with volunteer mentors from the practice areas they are interested in. The mentors offer guidance on vital areas such as network-building and gaining experience, writing job applications and dealing with interviews as well as giving insight into what it is really like to be in legal practice.
Rachel Harris, head of the College’s careers service, said: “More and more solicitors and barristers are coming forward to offer their services as they know how tough it can be to gain a foothold in the profession, particularly in a recession. Successful lawyers can share a wealth of practical experience and wisdom and taking part also contributes to their own career development by building their mentoring and people skills.
“The students find it invaluable as they get the opportunity to learn more about their areas of interest and augment their academic qualifications by improving their networking and presentations skills, which builds their self-confidence.”
The scheme attracts solicitors from corporate, commercial and High Street firms as well as publicly funded and government organisations. Mentors at the College’s Birmingham and London Bloomsbury centres also include practising barristers. All receive full support and training from College staff before being paired with their mentees.
The College’s York centre has seen the biggest growth in the scheme this year with 94 mentors from across Yorkshire and the north east compared with 59 last year.
Law firms and organisations represented include Atherton Godfrey, Brooke North, City of York Council, Clarion Solicitors, The Crown Prosecution Service, Dickinson Dees, Eversheds, Gordons, Harrowells LLP, H.M. Courts Service, Irwin Mitchell, Kinsey & Co, Pryers Solicitors, Shulmans and Stamp Jackson & Procter.
Katherine Schofield, who successfully completed the Legal Practice Course at the York centre in July, was mentored by a Clerk to the Justices at York Magistrates' court.
Former College of Law LPC student Katherine Schofield, who benefitted from the mentoring scheme.
“The mentoring scheme gave me an insight into practising criminal law,” she said. “Spending time in court with my mentor enabled me to develop my networking skills as I was introduced to many criminal lawyers and magistrates. I was able to discuss these opportunities during my interview at Mark Williams Associates, a specialist criminal law practice in the South East, and successfully secured a training contract with them.“
The College’s Bloomsbury centre has also seen a large increase in the number of law professionals keen to begin mentoring with 212 volunteers this year compared with 161 last year.
They represent a wide range of firms across the capital including Charles Russell, Denton Wilde Sapte, DLA Piper, Ince & Co, Leigh Day & Co Solicitors, Linklaters, Macfarlanes LLP, Nabarro, Speechly Bircham and Weightmans and there are also 25 barristers taking part.
Solicitor Kate Rodgers of Ince & Co learned about the mentoring scheme through the College’s alumni association.
She said: “I thought that the project was a great idea and I wanted to volunteer for two reasons. First, I have a mentor within my law firm and so I appreciated the value of having a designated person to speak with, who can pass on the benefit of their experiences to me. Second, I remembered some of the difficulties that I had as a student when I was completing applications for training contracts and realised that some of these issues may have been avoidable if I'd had someone to speak with at the time.
“I think the benefit for students is that they have a contact in the legal profession who can advise them about how they find life in practice and pass on the benefit of their experiences in relation to application forms, work experience, training contracts etc. As it is a one to one relationship, the mentees benefit from being provided with advice specific to their own situations.”
Further information from Lucy Wray, Press Officer, The College of Law on 01483 216072 (lucy.wray@lawcol.co.uk)
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