The College of Law is urging small and medium-sized firms to boost their chances of getting the right trainees by offering work experience to law students.

Careers staff at the College’s York branch have been in meetings with firms in the region in a bid to persuade them to offer more placements; careers manager Chris Wilkinson said that although most of the larger firms had been quick to realise the benefits of offering official work placements – often directly recruiting their trainees from their schemes – others were more reluctant owing to concerns about the time and cost.


Mr Wilkinson said: ‘Many small and medium-sized firms have a genuine difficulty in that they do not have huge resources,’ he explained. ‘To take someone on to do a placement, the fee-earner must take time out to plan what they are going to do and then deal with the person. It can potentially cost a fair bit.’


However, he argued that employers could gain a valuable insight into a potential trainee’s legal instinct, academic abilities and ‘commercial and tactical nous’, as well as acquiring an understanding about how they would relate to clients, by observing them on the job. ‘Offering work placements is a logical way for firms to evaluate students, because otherwise you are gambling by making a decision based on a 30-minute interview,’ he said. ‘The trade-off is worth it; by spending time working with the person you can evaluate them, and vice versa – and as a result you will get a better trainee.’


Mr Wilkinson added that despite the resourcing issues, many smaller firms are wising up to the benefits of placements. ‘Most still don’t have official vacation placements, but many are trying to mirror what the larger firms are doing,’ he said.


The National Council for Work Experience advises employers to look at a range of issues when deciding whether they are in a position to offer placements, including whether it is necessary to pay the minimum wage, what level of supervision they are providing and whether they have adequate health and safety procedures and insurance in place.