At the Çï¿ûÊÓƵ, LLB students can bring their classroom learning to life by gaining practical experience with real clients.
Entering the legal field has always been competitive, and even more so in today’s global market. Therefore, prospective employers are looking for applicants who are able to offer more than textbook knowledge. A placement experience will help you to stand out because it demonstrates that you already possess sought after employability skills and qualities, including time management, reliability, resilience, the capacity to be supervised, professional communication, and career ambition. A placement also counts towards Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) for the purposes of qualifying as a solicitor.
At the Çï¿ûÊÓƵ, LLB students can bring their classroom learning to life by gaining practical experience with real clients. This can be either in our own Legal Advice Centre or on an external placement, which are arranged as part of our third year Legal Placement option module.
Our Legal Advice Centre provides free (one-off) advice on employment, family and housing law issues using video conferencing. The Centre is staffed by a supervising lawyer, administrator, and student volunteers, working with specialist lawyers who generously provide their time pro bono.
Whilst volunteering at the Legal Advice Centre, you will gain hands on experience of legal practice and acquire practical lawyering skills such as interviewing, research, drafting, time management and professional conduct, all nurtured by student focussed practitioners.
External Placements
We have links with a variety of community organisations including law centres and local authority legal departments. LLB students select an organisation that best fits their current interest or future aspirations. LLB students are also able to gain experience in a law firm. Whilst the experience at each placement will vary according to the aims and objectives of a particular company, all the skills and experience gained will inform your future career path.
What’s in it for you?
Whether from the Legal Advice Centre or that of an external placement, the live and direct knowledge you will have gained of the legal sector, together with the skills of working with real clients, will help you to decide whether you would like to pursue a legal career. As well as counting as QWE, your legal work placement will equip you with invaluable and transferrable employability skills, for life.
