The Legal Social Mobility Partnership blog, 2017

With over 70 firms, blue chip companies and professional sports clubs involved, the LSMP  provides students with valuable work experience and insight. Spread across the UK with clusters in London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and Reading, and with 94% of participants stating they would 'definitely' recommend the programme to other students, the partnership has growing success in its goal to break down barriers that stop individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds entering the elite and competitive legal profession.

Lucky enough to be offered a place on the LSMP, I began filling my excessively large suitcase with as many shirts, blazers and ties as possible, setting off for a week of work experience in the heart of London's business and financial district; Canary Wharf. Despite my smiling facade quickly fading upon boarding my first crowded London tube (with 2 suit bags, 1 suitcase, 1 briefcase... and an all-day-breakfast sandwich) my excitement refused to subside. No more would my summer be wasted in the comfort of my bedroom. I was going out into the real world as a trainee lawyer, and I quickly grew to appreciate the crowded tubes.

Day One
Patiently awaiting the arrival of any friendly face from our pre-scheme event, I was happy to find my cluster waiting outside the designated meeting point at Waterloo station, and we promptly set off for the first day of the scheme. Having dragged myself from bed at 5 am that morning, It was the only day I had failed to do my background research and I was unaware of both the location and organisation we were to visit.

Upon reaching Twickenham Stoop Stadium, I was pleased to find our first day would be spent at the home-ground of Harlequins Rugby Club. Both for myself, who plays a lot of sport, and some of my peers who do not, the day was cleverly focused around how sports skills can translate into the business and academic world, thus engaging all students regardless of sporting interest.

'Resilience' was the focus of day one, our ability to 'bounce back' in the face of difficulty and even use our past failures as a springboard for future success. Fittingly, our day's activities proved a challenge, testing our perseverance through a range of mental puzzles and pressuring situations. In one activity, we were informed that within the next 5 minutes, one of us would be chosen at random and would have to sing a song to our peers as a test of confidence. Nervous giggles and chatter quickly filled the room as the group discussed the growing feeling of pressure, the butterflies in our bellies and the shivers down our spines. Awkwardly staring at the floor trying to avoid any eye contact was one of many tactics I employed to protect myself from the presenter who would select a single poor soul to sing. After the longest 4 minutes and 59 seconds of my life, a relieved sigh echoed through the room. No-one had to sing. Instead of testing our confidence through singing, this tested how we reacted under pressure, with 5 minutes of controlled chaos teaching us how to mitigate our stress in the future.

Day one set an incredibly high bar for the LSMP week. Its clever balance of sport and business content engaged all, and its incredible location reminded students how fortunate they were to be on the programme, motivating us to make the most of it!

Day Two
Getting up at a more respectable 8 am, I boarded the tube to London Bridge and set off for the second day of the programme. We were fortunate enough to visit Simply Business, the UK's biggest insurance broker, and gain insight into life as an in-house lawyer.

'Cluster 5' students at Simply Business.

After opening speeches from the legal team, we quickly plunged into a negotiation exercise which built on our communication skills. Teams faced off to find the best deal for a fictional merger; provided with packs of information which would form the basis of our arguments. Being the first negotiation based task of the week, most teams took a slow start, yet grew increasingly comfortable as the discussions continued. This exercise provided a gentle introduction to negotiations and proved invaluable for the more heated debates we were tasked with later in the week.

Next, an informative and engaging speech on managing your appearance on social media. This proved useful for many students who were eager to pull out their mobile phones and set up LinkedIn accounts, a business based social-media platform that is one of the best when attempting to brand yourself to potential employers and clients. I am now the proud owner of a LinkedIn account and have already reaped benefits of expanding my professional network to all of the amazing and influential people I met during the LSMP. If you haven't yet made a LinkedIn account, I cannot recommend doing this enough.

Further activities included a motivating speech and Q&A session from the companies CEO, an introduction to data and analytics in business, and discussions on how the world of technology continues to challenge the legal profession, with recent issues surrounding Bitcoin, artificial intelligence and driverless vehicles. Overall, the day provided a new perspective on the legal profession through looking at the role of in-house lawyers, and engaged students in current affairs and negotiations. It became clear that the high standard of the LSMP programme from day one was going to be maintained, even raised, throughout the week.

Day Three
Checking my itinerary before leaving for day three, I was excited to find that we were going to have activities from not one, but two extremely well-established companies: BNY Mellon and Network Rail. This day proved one of my favourites due to the diverse nature of the topics we discussed, and two exciting role play games including stock trading and crisis response.

BNY Mellon provided my favourite exercise of the week through a unique stock trading simulation. My competitive spirit immediately kicked in, as our team began to decide how to spend our callosal £100,000 budget on a range of resources (like oil and gold) and fictional company stocks in each trading sector (like medicine or technology). Leaving just £250 of our budget to the bank, our team's high-risk strategy ensured we would either annihilate the rest of the competition... or place last! After 3 intense rounds of trading which were cleverly simulated with news updates and stock drops, the former proved true, and our teams gamble to invest 50% of our budget in coffee paid off when each share rocketed by 40%. Restraining my fist from pumping the air, our victory provided far more than an outlet for my competitive nature. A fun and exciting introduction into an area of business I had not previously explored, BNY Mellon's stock trading simulation was simply brilliant and having regained my professional composure I prepared myself for the second half of the day.

Network Rail engaged students with its simulation exercise on responding to a crisis. After being briefed of a derailed fictional train carrying a highly explosive liquid chemical (which had a name far too scientific for me to recall) we began to discuss how a lawyer may manage social relations and the press to help resolve the issue. The challenge of this task was in the tentative phraseology needed to carefully secure public relations, as we did not want to accept liability until we were sure the train derailed due to a fault of our own, thus testing our communicative skills. Similar to the task of BNY Mellon, this simulation exercise offered a current and topical exploration of law and business, arming our CV's with more amazing experiences but most of all, proving a lot of fun.

Day Four
Having a strong interest in technology, our visit to EY excited me due to its modern focus on artificial intelligence, data, coding and forensics.

This day had a very unique feel as we were briefed on (and even shown) the range of high-tech kit used by EY to help them operate as a business and protect, store and search their data. This modern look on the importance of technology in the business world encouraged me to further my technological understanding, deciding I want to learn to code through C++, as having been shown the effect of technology in modern business I believe this skill will be invaluable for employers in the future.

The impressive modern look of EY

Another exercise involved a fictional investigational on some bank transfers that did not quite add up, and we, acting as EY employees, were tasked with running the investigation due to potentially fraudulent activity. Having taken drama at both GCSE and AS level, I enjoyed this task immensely, confidently jumping into my role as 'interviewer' and grilling my poor team-mate with an array of hard to answer questions regarding the whereabouts of his money and the shady transaction history. However, to my disappointment, my investigation concluded that my chief suspect was not guilty, and was rather being used by his boss to unknowingly launder money! This task provided a fun insight into the technological world of data forensics, inspiring me to further develop my understanding of coding and showing the importance of technology to business in the modern world.

Day Five
With the week flying by, I knew Friday was my final chance to make the most of the LSMP, and what better way to do it than with the 'firework display on the Thames'; my visit to ITV studios in London.

This day provided the biggest variety of the programme and was hugely exciting as it regrouped all 120 of the students from London for a grand finale! From phycological insights of personality types, to talks from The Blair Partnership, 'Money Saving Expert' - Martin Lewis, and founders of Brand You Sport, the LSMP's final day at ITV did not disappoint, with an almost overwhelming display of knowledge and expertise that provided great motivation to pursue the careers we should, could and hopefully will achieve.

ITV Studios

My favourite exercise of the day involved a fictional contract between ITV and a celebrity agency, being tasked with negotiating the best possible price for hiring 5 celebrities to feature on a new game show. This negotiation proved far tougher than previous ones, as we not only had to negotiate within our budget but also compete against other teams to gain the cheapest price. Rushed for time, our negotiation strategy was to emphasise the limited nature of our budget, hoping this could pull down prices, and to always let the opposing side talk first (in the hope that they were less coordinated and would give away part of their negotiation strategy). Of our £290,000 budget, our team saw great success only spending £245,000 and securing an A list team of 5 known celebrities, but also developing our confidence in negotiation environments.

The afternoon closed with a final session of networking, meeting more professionals who were willing to help us by offering advice as to how best stand out in the competitive legal profession. Mike Franklin from the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) delivered our closing speech, with his inspirational story of persistence and resilience reminding all that our dream career did not have to remain a dream, beautifully summarising all that the LSMP stands for; equality of opportunity and removing barriers to the legal world.

The opportunity to participate in the LSMP scheme showed me, and hundreds of other students across the UK, that a profession in law is truly achievable regardless of your background. The scheme exceeded its goals of arming students CV's with an array of skills, as it also provided motivation to study law, and a drive and hunger to succeed. I would like to thank all the organisers, business', individuals and volunteers who kindly gave their time to make this programme possible.

If you would like to learn more about the LSMP programme or apply for a place next year, follow the link here.

Christian Hughes