During July Bristows runs its annual work experience programme, the Joe Sako Summer Workshop, through which it offers a bespoke experience for students who meet the PRIME criteria, are interested in a career in law and who may not otherwise have an opportunity to undertake work experience in a law firm. It is organised and hosted by Bristows in memory of Joe Sako, represented by our handstand logo, which celebrates Joe’s trade mark love of gymnastics. Joe was an exceptional Trainee and Associate at Bristows who was extraordinarily passionate about increasing diversity in the legal profession. His untimely passing in 2019 from meningitis has seen him deeply missed by all his friends and colleagues here. This workshop in Joe’s memory was considered a fitting tribute and one we know he would have been incredibly proud of.

We ran our fourth annual Workshop this year from Monday 7th to Friday 11th July. We were delighted to welcome twelve outstanding Year 12 students, who attended Bristows’ offices in Blackfriars, London, each day to gain an in-person insight into pursuing a legal career, to explore various areas of legal practice, and to enhance their legal, practical and communication skills. Here’s a round-up of what they got up to:

On Monday, the students were introduced to Bristows and the Joe Sako Workshop, with some tips as to how they could get the most out of it (based around the Bristows values). After a seemingly unnecessary ice-breaker, given how quickly the students had become friends, they had a full morning of introductions to the paths available into law, delivered by our trainees and our apprentices (as well as lunch with all of our apprentices from across the business, including, IT, HR and Marketing). With a significant proportion of our fee earners coming from “non-law” degree backgrounds, we think the students were intrigued to learn more about the variety of routes available to them. In the afternoon, the students were introduced to Bristows’ core specialism: Intellectual Property, giving them their first real insight into the legal work we do. A final session by our graduate recruitment team on ‘CVs, applications and interviews’, closed off the first day with the group already thinking about the practical steps they could take to kick start their career in law.

Tuesday saw the students have their first opportunity to see ‘behind the scenes’ at Bristows, with a tour around our offices (including now-annual highlights, such as the IT server room, the Unilever shop and the second-floor outside balcony) as well as the opportunity to “shadow a lawyer” by sitting with an allocated Partner or Senior Associate to see first-hand whether the TV dramas offer any truth of the realities of the profession. A packed afternoon saw the students learn about disputes and litigation, attend a panel session on private practice vs in-house roles (with thanks to lawyers from our client, Capgemini, for helping to deliver that session), and the Unreal Campaign’s practical workshop on counterfeiting delivered by members of our Brands team.

Wednesday introduced the students to the idea that the law is involved in everything we do. Sessions on ‘Data protection and libel’, ‘Employment law’ and a focused session on ‘IP and Regulatory law in the news’ had them thinking about employment rights, whether to ‘accept all’ on website cookies, regulating the Covid vaccine, and Ed Sheeran’s musical copyright! After lunch, our ‘Speed networking’ session brought a new level of buzz – the students had 3 minutes to talk to various people from around Bristows (from Front of House to PAs, Paralegals and Partners) before being (abruptly!) moved on to the next when the buzzer sounded. The students, returning on a real high, then dived straight into ‘Trial 101’ with one of our client meeting rooms converted into a mock court room, roles were allocated and a full trial with live cross-examination commenced.

Thursday offered a shift in pace, with the students arriving early to walk over to the Royal Courts of Justice and the Rolls Building for a tour of the Courts and an opportunity to see what they had learnt in Trial 101 in practice – sitting in on a negligence case involving a snowmobile accident was a particular highlight. An afternoon shadowing another (different) lawyer, again gave the students a chance to put their learnings from the week into practice in an office environment. To end the day, a session with our Marketing & Business Development team had the students contemplating how they could begin building their ‘personal brand’ at this early stage.

On the final day, the students experienced what life would be like at university, with a legal theory session based on ‘The Case of the Speluncean Explorers’ – with this session sparking serious debate every year! After a Q&A session with our current trainee cohort on a day in the life of a trainee solicitor, and a skills session on ‘Using strengths and weaknesses to your advantage’, the students finished the week with what we thought would be the daunting task of presenting on a topic of choice to the entire group. As it happens the students relished the opportunity, delivering confident and enlightening presentations on a variety of topics and wanting more time to present. Each delivered an excellent and interactive presentation, covering topics such as ‘Branding in F1’, ‘A history of Australia’, several presentations on ‘Why everyone should watch [Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Gilmore Girls/Better Call Saul], ‘The rise and fall of Mussolini’, ‘The sociological meanings of family’ and more.

A spontaneous extra session, requested by the students, on ‘How to use LinkedIn as a professional’, followed by a sneak peek at Bristows’ newly-upgraded Content Studio, saw the end of this year’s Workshop.

The feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive, with all of them seemingly having made firm friends by the end of the first day and not wanting to leave by the end of the last (some claiming they would “miss the commute”!). Whether or not the students choose to pursue a career in the legal industry, we hope this experience was memorable and stands them in good stead for the future. A few quotes from the feedback include:

“The best experience ever. A huge thank you to all staff/lawyers. Very friendly firm and felt safe.”

“A great balance of challenging and digestible information, exposed me to specific areas. Practical sessions and court were excellent and I enjoyed connecting with similarly minded people. Staff so welcoming and friendly as well as insightful.”

“10/10 – thank you so much for creating such a welcoming and supportive atmosphere. Really will miss this experience and hope to come back as an apprentice here.”

“I really liked all the people, I could really see the values being embodied.”

The success and impact of this initiative was a collective effort from our 50+ volunteers to the organising committee comprising Charlie Purdie, Katy Gibson, Jennifer Healy, Victoria Hand, Kiran Sidhu, Lucy Sewter, Hafsa Babar and Connie Williams.