Law firm helps pupils on career path

Three members of staff from the UK Top 100 law firm visited Lawnswood School in Leeds as part of an initiative organised by Business in the Community.

Employment Solicitor Flora Mewies and Trainee Solicitors Sarah Stockdale and Kate Dunham were quizzed by Year 8 pupils at Lawnswood as part of their Key Stage 3 Careers curriculum ‘Explore and Inspire’, where students learn employment skills through self development, career exploration and career management.

The visit formed part of the work which Business in the Community does through its Business Class programme to bridge the gap between the worlds of education and work by boosting pupils’ knowledge of what various careers involve and the skills and qualifications they will need and encouraging aspiration.

The students worked in groups and were each given 10 minutes to ask a series of questions to discover what work Flora, Sarah and Kate carried out, what their roles involved and, from that, to guess what profession they were in.

Flora Mewies said: “We found the students to be really engaged with the activity. They asked lots of interesting and searching questions to discover what we all did; some questions were more searching than others!

“The pupils seemed genuinely interested in the career path to becoming a lawyer, the kind of work which it involves and the different types of law that can be pursued.

Hopefully this has given them a real insight into law as a career and who knows, we may one day welcome some of them to Ward Hadaway!”

This is the third Business Class school initiative which Ward Hadaway’s Leeds office has taken part in and the firm plans to carry out further similar activities with the organisation in the future.

Liz Needleman, area director of BITC England East, said: “Research highlights that 30% of UK employers attribute lack of skills in the workforce to difficulties when filling entry-level vacancies.

“The programme enables young people to acquire the skills employers need and provides a framework for powerful strategic collaborations between schools and local businesses.”

Jamie Martin, Managing Partner at Ward Hadaway, said: “As a firm, we have always believed in supporting the communities of which we are part and in getting involved with initiatives that help them.

“We have worked with Business in the Community for many years on a number of different programmes and it is always a rewarding experience for us.

“This particular initiative is doing excellent work in introducing young people to a range of careers at what is a formative time in their lives. By learning more about what a career in the law involves, hopefully the students at Lawnswood will be better informed about their choices when they look to enter the world of work.”