On Tuesday, 17 January, Lyons Davidson’s Leeds office held an ice-breaker session with our own mentors and students from Notre Dame Sixth Form College, with which it has a longstanding relationship.
Notre Dame caters for students aged 16+. The college is attended by approximately 1,500 domestic and international students and offers a full range of A-Levels and BTECS. It offers A-Levels in Law, a popular choice for study. The college has just launched a BTEC in Law and around 40 BTEC students are expected; the intention is to link the BTEC course with legal apprenticeships.
Career Ready Programme
Lyons Davidson’s main commitment to Notre Dame is supporting the Career Ready Programme (formerly the Careers Academy), a UK-wide charity linking employers with schools and colleges to open up the world of work to young people. It helps schools and colleges run programmes in a number of different areas including STEM subjects, IT, business and law.
The programme runs alongside students’ studies and is designed to boost employability and awareness of routes into the profession. There are three key parts to the programme: mentoring, masterclasses and internships/work experience.
There were 14 places on offer this year; applications are accepted from those in their AS year studying law. The first stage of the application process is a CV, covering letter and application form; the second stage is interview by a panel of college staff and legal professionals . Lyons Davidson assists Notre Dame with interviews. Last year, there were more than 60 applications and those students who were unsuccessful were offered a mentor.
Two types of mentors
We are mentoring eight students over the next year, through two types of mentoring:
- Standalone mentors
Notre Dame runs a mentoring scheme that partners law students with legal professionals, LLB and postgrad law students. Mentors provide insight into the profession and further legal study. This scheme runs independently to the Career Ready Programme. - Career Ready mentors
Each student who gains a place on the Career Ready Programme is allocated a legal professional mentor. Meetings vary in structure from firm to firm: Clarion and Lupton Fawcett had the majority of the Career Ready Mentees last year and conducted most meetings at the same time with all mentors and mentees together. Meetings usually take place at least once a term and help the mentee develop career goals, an insight into the profession and gives help with CVs, covering letters, UCAS applications, personal statements etc.
The icebreaker meeting
The mentees were welcomed to Lyons Davidson, explaining why this was a really good opportunity and something that would make them stand out from the crowed when applying for university places and jobs in the future. He told them that they would get out of it what they put in and that we were all really looking forward to mentoring them.
They were then left them in the capable hands of Lisa Catherall from Notre Dame College, Lyons Davidson Team Supervisor Fallon O’Mahony and the mentors. The mentors paired off and discussed their job roles, what they liked to do in their spare time and what their future ambitions were. Mentees shared their hobbies with their mentors and told them what subjects they were taking, as well as what they wanted to do after their A levels.
The mentees were all very enthusiastic about the scheme and were keen to set up the first formal meeting during their half-term holiday next month.
All our mentors are looking forward to the next year of getting to know their mentees and are excited about providing them with the invaluable experience and skills that the scheme offers.
For more information about the mentoring scheme, contact Fallon O’Mahony by emailing [email protected] or calling 0113 368 7821.
