Moulding futures

This may fill your heart with joy as you relish the opportunity to guide, educate and mould these (typically) younger aspirational sorts on their way to legal maturity.

For others, you may be filled with dread. How do you make the law seem interesting, practical and worthwhile in only a week or two? Can this fledgling worker contribute anything more than making a sub-par cup of tea? Is it bad to lock them away in a copying room and have them prepare bundles for court?

It's hard to believe that it was over 20 years ago when I first stepped foot in a law office. Having no family or family friends in the profession and my school without any existing relationships with local firms, it was down to me to find somewhere suitable to accommodate me for two week as part of a compulsory work experience.

Trawling the Yellow Pages (remember those days?) and with one rejection letter already received, I headed out to win over the partners of Atherton & Godfrey, a full service firm in Doncaster.

I remember the interview vividly: the office, the partner who looked favourably upon me - and then the wait for a response. With only two weeks in a local library to fall back on, it was make or break.

Fortunately, I was welcomed into the firm and given a wonderful fortnight. I cringe now, looking back to the oversized suit and sweltering hot summer days in a non-air conditioned office overlooking the high street. I spent much of my time making the tea and delivering the internal mail, but this got me seen and introduced me to the lawyers who took me under their wing. By the end of the first week, I was being taken to court, into client meetings and welcomed into the real life of a lawyer.

The lawyers who supported me then confirmed my desire to work in the law. I wasn't to know then that just a few weeks later they would be paying me to do the photocopying throughout the summer months.

I may have only got £35 a week for my efforts, but there was a whole lot more value in the experience. It was that first step that ultimately secured my training contract with the same firm years later.

So if you see someone looking lost in the office, confused as to why the copier isn't working or just a little quiet, go over and say hello. We are not only employees and partners; we are ambassadors for our firms and for the whole profession.

If, on the other hand, you are taking up a vacation scheme yourself, make the effort to get to know your colleagues, the firm and be open to what is on offer. Who knows who you might end up speaking to and where it may lead.