Sophie's Law Placement
Third year LLB Law student Sophie Rogers tells us all about her experience at 3PB Barristers in Winchester. Sophie completed this experience as part of the placement module.
How I secured my placement
I undertook a law placement with the crime team at 3PB Barristers in Winchester because I am in my final year and am hoping to become a criminal barrister. It was part of the optional law placement module which you can take in your third year. The university has connections with legal organisations where students can apply to do a placement or you can use your own contacts to secure a placement at a firm of your choice. I already had a relationship with 3PB after previously doing a mini-pupillage and judge marshalling with them. I was keen to gain more practical experience in a barristers’ chambers, given my career goal, so I arranged my own placement with 3PB. It involved spending one day a week with them over a six-month period.
What the Law placement module involves
The module requires 120 hours of work at your placement provider. The module is assessed by a reflective diary and a research project, which currently are both worth 50% of the grade. My diary documented my experience on placement, the tasks I completed and what I learned, and I needed to complete an entry for each day. My research project needed to be 5,000 words on a topic linked to my placement and mine was on consent being a defence to harm and how far the criminal law should intervene, as this is a particular aspect of criminal law I am interested in.
What I did during the six months
In collaboration with your placement provider, you agree your goals for your time there at the beginning. This is key as it means that your placement is then tailored to your interests and what you would most like to achieve during your time. My goals were to undertake legal research; write a minimum of six pieces of legal drafting including defence statements and skeleton arguments; shadow barristers in court hearings and client conferences and to write a report on the issues currently facing the legal profession.
I visited the cells in Winchester Crown Court to meet defendants and visited the Royal Courts of Justice in London when I was shadowing in the Court of Appeal. I also spoke with many members of chambers about life as a criminal barrister, including gaining advice about finances and being self-employed, and how to balance a career at the bar alongside raising a family. These practical and personal experiences have been invaluable in helping me understand what it is really like being a criminal barrister.
The skills I developed on placement
I have definitely improved and honed my advocacy skills through writing defence statements, prosecution opening notes and skeleton arguments. In my degree, I had already written a skeleton argument for a module which was assessed by a moot, but the practical side of my placement enabled me to improve massively on these skills and get experience writing legal documents I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to write during my degree. Essentially, placement has bridged the gap between my academic studies at university and the practical element of having a career at the bar.
Through shadowing barristers in court, in hearings and client conferences, I have been exposed to different styles of advocacy and have now begun to develop my own style. I have witnessed a wide variety of barristers at work and have learnt phrases, styles of speech and tones of voice which are often used in court and with clients, and which I will be able to use in my future career.
How my placement was a step towards my career goal
Given the long-term nature of my placement, I was able to build connections and relationships and learnt about the atmosphere and ethos of chambers. I am due to begin the Bar Training Course this summer and I will then apply for pupillage, which is the final, practical stage of training needed to become a barrister.
The placement allowed me to discover what I am looking for in a chambers for pupillage, and I hope to apply to 3PB for this next year. My advice to anyone studying Law at Winchester and considering taking the placement module is to do it! In your first and second years of your degree, try to gain experience you feel is interesting to help decide on your career aspirations. If you do not wish to secure a placement at the providers the university has connections with, get in touch with the connections you have personally made to find your own placement provider. Either way, a law placement can be invaluable in understanding what certain legal careers entail and can be extremely helpful in affirming (or changing!) your career choice. This experience has given me a massive insight into the profession, and taking the placement module was the best decision I made!
With many thanks to Sophie for taking the time to write about her experience of the law placement module. You can find out more about Winchester’s LLB Law programme here and our postgraduate LLM Law Conversion programme here.
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