Law firm partners meet students

Jun 6 2007 By The Journal

International law firm Eversheds has run a series of sessions at its Newcastle office, offering students from seven local sixth forms the opportunity to gain an insight into life as a lawyer. Students who had expressed interest in pursuing a career in law were able to meet with various partners and learn about what a commercial law firm does, the different specialisms and how the areas are integrated.

Some of the schools were selected because Eversheds employees had previously attended them, including Heaton Manor School, Monkseaton Community High School, Ponteland High School, Dame Allan's School, Royal Grammar School, Church High School and St Thomas Moore with 10 more sixth form colleges already enlisted for next year.

Students were given the opportunity to listen to senior partners and solicitors from the major practice groups including corporate, human resources, litigation and dispute management and real estate.

They also heard from trainee solicitors including Mary Mundy and Rachel Woodall, who helped to coordinate the programme, as they spoke about why they had chosen a career in law, the route they had taken and the type of work that they carry out on a typical day.

Eversheds senior office partner Adrian Stanley, said: "The feedback from the sessions has been extremely positive and we plan to do the same again for other schools and colleges.

"Not only does it assist students when making decisions about their careers, it also demonstrates that Eversheds is an excellent place to work, and supports the fact that we were recently ranked sixth as `top stops for law graduates' according to the Law Student Survey 2007."

Neil Rowe, graduate recruitment partner at Eversheds, added: "The local schools programme was presented for the first time this year alongside Eversheds' graduate recruitment programme and we very much hope that it will continue to complement the strong links we already have with the region's universities."

Royal Grammar School head of careers Mike Downie said: "Our students found the sessions at Eversheds to be of tremendous benefit and the information they gained will be of great use to them when they come to make decisions about their own careers."