Hugh James offers salaried work placements to Cardiff University law students
updated on 14 October 2016
Hugh James is offering 18 full-time, one-year, paid work placements to students at Cardiff University’s School of Law and Politics. The aim is to enable students to gain experience of legal practice, providing them with the chance to apply their academic knowledge in a practical context.
The university is engaged in a significant push to increase the employability of its students and to ensure that they are equipped with the skills needed in the workplace. Hugh James, a top 100 UK firm, will run a competitive application process for the scheme. During their time at the firm, students will undertake legal practice as paralegals, and will be performing graduate level roles.
Diane Brooks, HR director at Hugh James, said of the partnership: “We have developed an excellent relationship with Cardiff University's law school over many years and a significant number of our lawyers and partners are alumni. As a growing business which employs more than 600 people in Cardiff we have an ongoing and increasing need for the brightest legal talent in the marketplace. The scheme will be extremely useful for us in terms of helping us to identify future graduates who have what it takes to succeed in our business. It will also be very beneficial for the students who will be able to demonstrate to future employers that they have a firm grasp of the practical aspects of graduate legal work as well as the academics.”
Professor Julie Price, head of pro bono and employability at the School of Law and Politics, said: “This is the first time we have offered a Law with Professional Placement programme. Such opportunities are still quite unusual in leading UK universities, particularly with this number of students going to the same firm for a year. We have a long-established working relationship with Hugh James and we welcome this innovative programme as attractive to students who want significant experience of the law in practice with a view to informing their future career choices.”
