As we come to the end of our undergraduate journey, life becomes a little daunting for me and my fellow final year students: the pressure to do exceedingly well, not only to make ourselves and our loved ones proud, but also to secure a potential training contract, vacation scheme or job role. It’s easy to feel as if you are behind, but it’s never too late because the opportunities available at Leeds Law School are endless.

I was pleased to attend two vacation schemes organised by Legal Cheek recently, a legal organisation that holds virtual vacation schemes regularly throughout the year. Each event has more than 40 global, US and national leading law firms in attendance. 

Day one of the law fair included a 'transactional work' discussion by Willkie Farr & Gallagher, as well as an inspirational interview workshop by a former graduate advisor at Addleshaw Goddard and Ashurst. 

On day two, there was an Expo which gave us an amazing opportunity to speak with recruiters and trainees from great firms such as Clyde & Co, White & Case, Norton Rose Fulbright, Hill Dickinson, Irwin Mitchell, Gateley, DWF and many others. After joining a few booths and speaking to recruiters, this experience is one I could not recommend more. Not only does it give you an insight into the daunting recruitment processes, but you leave feeling more confident and with your questions answered. Additionally, there was a wide range of opportunities I was unfamiliar with prior to attending the event, and this was particularly the case with Accutrainee.

Another positive is that with hundreds of attendees, you can easily gain a huge amount of connections if you want to grow your LinkedIn!

Day three was also great - there was an intellectual property discussion led by Pinsent Masons, and a Q&A with trainees from many different law firms such as DLA Piper and Wedlake Bell who shared their journey and gave us lots of tips. All attendees receive a certificate.

I highly recommend this event because not only can you network globally, you also gain a much better understanding on what you want to do and how to achieve that, as well as getting to talk directly with leading law firms. 

Overall, it was a fantastic event and I hope my insight will encourage more students to attend in the future. I found it really helpful; thank you Leeds Law School for passing on the opportunity.