Day 2

I was placed in the crime and regulatory department for my second day. The morning was spent in court, which was fairly familiar territory for me. In the afternoon I helped with three cases; confirming there was an evidential link between a defendant and co-defendant, legal research on a breach of a restrainining order for what was a 'reasonable excuse' and then prepared questions for the cross examination of two witnesses for a trial the following day.

I really appreciated the time I spent on the cases in the afternoon. Particularly for the guidance I received building questions for cross examination - ask open questions to your client so they tell the story and build on it, closed questions to the appellant/ (prosecution) therefore directing what you want the court to hear.

Vacation scheme Day 1

I applied over a year ago for this placement. I was attracted by their location, regional spread of offices and the sectors they practice including crime. 

The vacc scheme involves me visiting 5 different departments. This provides an opportunity to explore different areas of law (commercial, crime and regulatory, employment, family and residential conveyancing), at the same time as getting to know the entire team at the firm. 

My first day started off with an introduction to the firm. Whilst the firm are a fairly large regional firm the departments are relatively small, except for crime and regulatory. The office is open plan which means all the departments are right next door to each other. This was a real positive for me, as it meant I could see how areas of law overlap and interact with each other. The lawyers would consult each other  if anything outside of their specialist area came up. It gave a real sense of team work and feeling of a firm cooperating together, rather than churning out clients (I have just been working at a conveyancing firm which felt more like a factory rather than a law firm.)

I spent the remainder of the day in the commercial department. I was given a task to summarise in my words and format the standard regulations for commercial property. Whilst normally, scanning through  documents with a lot of information on and picking out the important detail is a skill of mine, I really struggled with this. Largely because I didn't recognise a lot of the law and found it difficult to condense something I didn't understand myself. It put into context for me how my academic studies form only the very base of what you might use in practice. All that studying and there is still so much more to learn!

I really enjoyed getting to know the commercial department. The exercise helped me understand the process of commercial conveyancing and also the necessary skill to be able to read large quantities of information on a daily basis without missing any important or changed terms. 

Speaking to one of the lawyers, she expressed how important she felt it was to have a commercial seat as the law overlaps with each, particularly in the progressing market today. It teaches a different set of skills which can be transferred to other departments and develops a broader base of knowledge.

I would really like the opportunity to explore this area of law further and hope my time at the firm might give me a better understanding of how it infiltrates into other areas.