Flora Henry; 2024 Diploma in Professional Legal Practice Graduate
Can you tell us your plans after graduating from the Diploma in Professional Practice at the University of Glasgow?
After graduating I will be moving to Edinburgh before starting my traineeship in August at a large Scottish firm.
How did activities you underwent on the Diploma contribute to building employability skills? Did you participate in any competitions or external events?
Firstly, tutorials on the Diploma allow you to learn directly from practicing lawyers who set work that imitates trainee tasks. I found my tutors were really supportive and keen to provide career advice or answer questions about their fields of work. There are also so many opportunities on the Diploma to get involved in extra-curricular activities. I participated in mediation and, after attending the training sessions, was lucky enough to be selected to represent the university at an International Competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This was an incredible opportunity to develop new skills but also to make new friends on the Diploma. Due to our performance in the competition, our team was also awarded scholarships to attend a summer school on Mediation and Negotiation, which I will be attending in Portugal this July. Given that ADR is now increasingly used instead of litigating, I have no doubt that the skills and experiences learned from this will be hugely beneficial to my future career.
What activities or experiences did you find helped you when applying for summer placements and traineeships / training contracts?
I think the most helpful thing for me was engaging careers support and attending mock interviews. These enabled me to anticipate the types of questions I may be asked and allowed me to be calmer (and perform better as a result) when it came to the 'real thing'. I was also able to demonstrate transferable skills I had already developed in different settings. A lot of firms recognise that legal experience can be hard to get, but from my experience they were far more interested in experiences I had that were outwith law, such as other jobs or extra-curricular activities.
What advice would you give other students starting the LLB relating to employability?
I would encourage students to make the most of opportunities and use the support and resources that are available. For example, speaking to your tutors or enquiring with the careers service about application support. I would also encourage students to get involved with events put on by the Law School as they allow you to meet professionals from a range of sectors in a comfortable environment. I would also recommend finding a mentor if you feel this would be beneficial. I did this through both the Law Society of Scotland and within the university. As I didn't know any lawyers, or anyone who'd studied at Glasgow before I started, my mentors were a supportive sounding board for any questions I had.