VC Julia Buckingham gave an inspirational speech to launch Law Week at Brunel Law School. The week commenced with a ‘Law Uncovered’ careers networking event where around 50 law students met solicitors and barristers from a range of legal organisations including Blake Morgan, GE Aviation and Government Legal Services.
There was also an Athena Swan Women in Law session in the moot court. The session was delivered by Jurgita Malinauskaite (our Athena Swan lead) and Diane Astin (a solicitor specialising in social welfare law). The session covered interesting topics such as: the statistical data on women, underrepresentation in senior roles of the legal profession (reports provided by the Law Society); importance of having role models. Practical tips, on how to get into the profession – internships/paralegal work/volunteering; different types of solicitors and barristers and the nature of different fields of law (e.g. crime, family, commercial work, social welfare law); alternatives to legal profession/quasi legal roles (e.g. Ombudsmen services, civil service); and the path generally to becoming a solicitor, barrister or judge. One of the students who attended, said 'it was very inspiring and empowering'.
Also as part of the week, The Service Prosecuting Authority came in to talk to students. Students had the opportunity to discuss the practice of criminial justice in the context of the service prosecuting authority. Darren Reed, Deputy Director and Lt Col Paul Brogan talked about the practice of the SPA and the life of a military lawyer which captivated students who then talked to them in person about their experiences and their career pathway.