Leeds Beckett Law students mentored for success

The networking event, which took place on Wednesday 17 February at the Rose Bowl, was attended by first, second and third year Law students. The students, who applied for the undergraduate mentor scheme in November 2015, were introduced to their mentors – a range of barristers, solicitors, trainee solicitors and paralegals from highly-regarded local and national law firms, Chambers, banks and branches of government - many of whom are Leeds Beckett alumni who have benefitted from the original mentor scheme offered to postgraduate students.

Under the scheme, mentees will benefit from on-the-job work experience, gain valuable insight into the profession and helpful hints and tips on what employers are looking for, writing CVs and interview skills.

Yvonne Marsh, Principal Lecturer for Quality in Leeds Law School and Mentor Scheme Co-ordinator, said: “We are delighted to launch our undergraduate mentor scheme.  The postgraduate mentor scheme has been running for over 10 years at Leeds Law School and has been invaluable in helping students find jobs after study.”

Deveral Capps, Head of Leeds Law School, commented: “I am really pleased that we have been able to extend our mentor scheme to cover all LLB students; this provides an unrivalled opportunity for all of our students to receive expert support and assistance from people in practice.”

Every Leeds Law School undergraduate student was invited to participate in the scheme which involved a series of tasks, including a mock job application form, creating a CV and LinkedIn profile, and a short interview.  Feedback on each task was provided by Fran Bostyn and Sara Boulton from the University’s Careers Service. Fran commented: “The aim behind the application process was to develop our students’ employability skills and make them more aware of real-life job selection procedures.  It’s a tough world out there and the more we can do to prepare our students through schemes such as this, the better placed they will be to compete with other applicants.”

Current Law student, Molly Ripley, said: “Having a mentor is invaluable and I am very grateful to be able to have someone to offer an insight into the profession that I eventually want to work in.  I thoroughly enjoyed the networking event; it was exciting to speak to people and get an understanding of what practice is like.”

Rebecca Parker, a third year Law student, commented: “I feel very privileged to have been chosen for the mentoring scheme and I can see from just attending the networking event how much this experience will benefit students. It was a great opportunity to develop key transferable skills and make myself known to other people doing the job that I aspire to do.”

Yvonne added: “The networking evening was a great success.  The undergraduate students made the most of the networking opportunities afforded by the event.  They conducted themselves professionally and made excellent ambassadors for our Law School.  I am very grateful to all the mentors who are giving up their time to help our undergraduate students in an increasingly competitive legal market. It was also very rewarding to catch up with many former students and hear about what they are doing in practice.”

Mentors for the 2015/16 programme have come from:

Broadway House Chambers, St Philips Chambers, Enact, Harrison Bundey, Eversheds LLP, Virtuoso Legal, Levi Solicitors LLP, DAC Beachcroft, Squire Patton Boggs, Lowell Solicitors, Gateley plc, Keeble Hawson, Wilsons Solicitors, Pinsent Masons, Addleshaw Goddard, Shulmans LLP, Milners Solicitors, Cohen Crammer, Goodman Grant, Ward Hadaway, HSBC and Yorkshire Bank.