Want a career in the legal profession? How my work experience days at top law firms have given me the edge

A Level student Muttee Mirza has set his sights on a career in Law. Here he blogs about the two work experience days he attended at legal firms BDB Pitmans and Farrer & Co. He hopes to inform and inspire other students who have a desire to gain a legal apprenticeship or who have an ambition to work for a law firm.

BDB Pitmans

I am studying A Levels in Law, Politics and Spanish at New City College and my goal in life is to work in the legal profession and make a positive difference to people’s lives.

Along with my student colleague Muhammad Asad I was fortunate enough to attend a work experience day run by Uptree at the BDB Pitmans law firm in London, involving just 24 students from across the city. BDB Pitmans is a firm which was established in 2018 after a merger between two original law firms, BDB and Pitmans.

I cannot fully put into words how great the experience was that we both had!

We travelled up to London and were greeted on arrival at the building by the hosts of the event. We were then taken up to the floor where BDB Pitmans is based and one of the partners, Nick Le Riche, gave us all an introduction.

That was just the start of a day which was exciting and confidence-building!

We were set a team task and separated into groups of four or five. We were given a scenario where we had to advise a client on what Intellectual Property rights they are entitled to. Then we demonstrated our application of the scenario back to the group leader, who gave us feedback and answered any queries we had.

My favourite part of the day was when Muhammad and I were joined by around six lawyers as we sat and ate our lunch. It turned into an impromptu Q&A with them! They just decided to come and sit with us to eat, so basically the two of us just sat in a circle with the lawyers and spoke about ourselves as well as the legal profession. They gave us so much advice, great tips and an insight into their world. It was just fantastic.

The final part of the day consisted of further networking as well as a briefing on the solicitor/paralegal apprenticeships and training that the company offers.

I was particularly interested in the fact that this firm is one of very few which works with Parliament on matters of creating legislation in public law, whilst it also offers a Frauds and Investigation service, something which deeply interests me.

I also found out about entry requirements. A Level grades need to meet a minimum CCC and you need to have achieved 4 GCSEs, including English and Maths. The firm does not use psychometric or aptitude tests which are popular with other organisations when selecting candidates – they prefer instead to use interviews to get to know personalities.

This work experience day, without doubt, has instilled confidence in my pursuit of a job within the legal profession and has made me even more determined to succeed.

Farrer & Co

The second opportunity I was given was a similar work experience day at Farrer & Co, which I attended with my fellow student Travis.

During the visit we had a packed schedule of sessions, including Q&As with employees, tours, tasks, and networking breaks.

The highlight of this experience was the opportunity we had to visit Lincoln’s Inn, which is one of the Inns of Court in London. These are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court: Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple – and all barristers must belong to one of them.

We were able to admire the beautiful architecture and surroundings that the site had to offer. For me personally, Lincoln’s Inn has a special connection because that is where the founder of Pakistan (my motherland), Muhammad Ali Jinnah, studied law for four years. He was called to the bar in England at the age of just 19.

It was a mesmerising experience, and one I will not forget.

Muttee Mirza

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