First year law student seeks advice.....

[Aurea]

Hi all

I would be very grateful if any legal professionals could give advice to my first year university law DS.

He has an interview tomorrow for a voluntary role as a legal aid advisor in his universities law clinic. The role works with clients with immigration and asylum issues and this area of law is where his heart lies. He is very keen to be awarded a role but there are over forty applicants for a handful of positions.

I would be very grateful for any interview advice/possible questions so he can prepare tonight.

May thanks.

OP, if he's only beginning his interview preparation tonight, after his mother has done the research for him ...

Why does his heart lie there? Why would he be good at the role? Examples of empathy, understanding. I have volunteered at the CAB and it could be difficult to keep people on track as they wanted to talk to someone who listened but we were busy and needed to keep to an appointment system. So important to pick out the important detail from a lot of information.

I hate to say it OP but I have to agree with @PerditaProvokesEnmity.

Law is a hugely competitive area to work in - he'll be fighting these same students (and more!) for places on the LPC and for a training contract. The day before an interview is far too late to start preparing.

Good luck to your son! But this has the potential to be a hard lesson to learn.

Sorry maybe I didn't make it very clear. He's just sat his first year law mods so he was taken up with revising for these. He also has 50 hour working week as he has two essays to hand in every 10 days. It's not a lack of commitment on his part for the last minute prep.

He also spent a long time on his application letter and CV. He only heard he had been selected for interview two days ago hence the last minute rush.

He has done voluntary work over the summer for CAB and is an ambassador for the Holocaust Educational Trust.

IMHO, he has done what he can as he is still just 18 but wishes to help others less fortunate than him .....

Ok, he has plenty of relevant experience! He will only need to keep it organised in his head so that he can refer to relevant examples when asked during the interview.

I'd remind him to stick to factual information and avoid any mention of 'passion'. Or indeed talking about clients as 'those less fortunate than himself' which has a 'saviour' tinge to it ...

Thanks Perdita.

This sounds great advice.

He really is keen on this area of law and has worked incredibly hard to get this far. He comes from a Scottish comp and is now studying at Oxbridge so he doesn't lack drive.

We have no lawyers in the family and no one else to ask so your input is highly valuable.

Did a law degree, volunteered for stuff - my advice would be for him to research a particular area that he is passionate about, and be prepared to answer questions on that. For that particular area, I would suggest that he looks at No Recourse To Public Funds as it is topical at the moment particularly due to COVID-19 and is something that affects foreign nationals/asylum seekers info here and here are helpful.

Broadly he should be able to discuss a range of topics regarding legal aid (e.g. but not limited to family court, divorce, crime/prison), what the challenges may be for service users and demonstrate that he will be able to find the information he needs quickly to help people.

Thank you Noodle.

I have sent on the links you gave. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I'll update this thread if there's any positive news. He'll hear back within a couple of weeks.

@Aurea how did he get on?

Hi Noodle

Thanks for asking.

Yes, he thinks it went well. They spoke for about 15 mins mainly asking him about how he found his CAB experience and what qualities he believes he would/should bring to the role.

There were 12 being interviewed for chairperson and 45 in total being interviewed for adviser (several positions) so I think his odds are quite low though.

I'll let you know if he's been successful.