Raising Aspirations Assembly (Solicitors)

Date: 28th Oct 2019 @ 12:13pm

 

This week we were delighted to be joined by two visitors in our latest Raising Aspirations assembly. Gemma Williams and Taylor Johnson shared their experience working in the legal profession with us. After lots of excellent questioning of our guests, Alisa in year 3 correctly guessed their job following our yes/no game and with the help of a prop, which was a gavel- well done Alisa!

We then went on to ask our special visitors our 3 questions:

What are your day to day duties?,      What qualifications do you need?   and    What transferable skills are required? (which we are currently developing at Willow Wood)

We learnt that the typical day to day duties include:

  • giving legal advice
  • researching cases and legislation
  • drafting legal documents
  • liaising with clients and other professionals such as barristers
  • representing clients in court.

We also learnt about two possible pathways you can take to become a solicitor. Gemma went and studied law at university to earn a degree which she followed up by completing a vocational, postgraduate course known as the legal practice course (LPC). Following qualification, it is necessary to complete a two-year training contract or 'period of recognised training'.

Taylor is currently a legal executive, training to become a solicitor without a degree by completing an apprenticeship. This means she works as a legal executive and continues to learn as she trains to become a qualified solicitor at the same time.

Most importantly we learnt that the transferable key skills to be a solicitor, which we are currently developing at Willow Wood, include:

  • problem solving
  • organisational skills and time keeping
  • Literacy and numeracy skills
  • good interpersonal/teamwork skills
  • written and oral communication skills
  • analytical skills

We would like to thank both Gemma and Taylor for taking time out to visit our school and share their career pathways with us.