Lawyers in Schools is a skills based employee volunteering programme run by the Citizenship Foundation.
The scheme places practising and trainee lawyers into the classroom to work with young people to develop their awareness and understanding of the law. Lawyers in Schools facilitates links between legal professionals and secondary schools, mainly in economically deprived areas. It provides an opportunity for lawyers and trainees to discuss and explore various legal issues.
This unique opportunity draws on the core skills and knowledge of legal professionals and the Citizenship Foundation's expertise in educational partnerships. It offers clear educational benefits to young people and enables volunteers to gain a real insight into the lives and issues that affect young people in their local community. The scheme has been running successfully since 1999 with law firms and in-house legal teams working with local secondary schools across the UK.
The London office has just come to the end of the 2011/12 Lawyers in Schools programme which was delivered by 28 volunteers (including six in-house lawyers from Everything Everywhere).
Lawyers in Schools is a unique employee volunteering opportunity designed to facilitate links between corporate law firms and local secondary schools, predominantly in economically deprived areas. It provides an opportunity for lawyers to engage students in interactive discussions about various legal issues relevant to their daily lives. Legal professionals draw on their expertise to increase awareness and understanding of the law among young people, including a greater appreciation of the justice system and their rights and responsibilities.
In the 2011/12 academic year, volunteers from Bird & Bird have delivered sessions to students at Central Foundation Girls’ School on: Learning about the Law, Discrimination, Employment Law, Police Powers, Youth Justice and Applying the Law.
Peter Brownlow, one of our partners, commented:
"
The Lawyers in Schools programme was a real eye opener for me. It was refreshing how engaged the students were and discussing law with young people from different religious and social backgrounds was an interesting challenge. I also enjoyed working with colleagues and the lawyers at Everything Everywhere in a non-legal environment. I will be signing up again next year."
James Blendis, General Counsel, Everything Everywhere:
"
This is a fantastic opportunity for all of our lawyers, we are really pleased to be involved, and the feedback from the team has shown how much they’ve enjoyed the experience and how much they’ve learnt from it. Looking forward to continuing the programme and hopefully involving our Bristol office as well in the future."
Charlie Klendjian, Senior Legal Counsel, Operational Legal Affairs, Everything Everywhere:
"
Raising awareness of legal rights and responsibilities amongst young people is vital, so it has been a pleasure to have taken part in this excellent programme. I have been impressed with the quality of the discussions and the questions, although I wasn’t sure how to respond when asked, “yes, but are you a proper lawyer?”. Hopefully I’ll have an answer before next year’s programme."
Matthew Redding, Director of joint ventures and partnerships’ legal affairs, Everything Everywhere:
"
I have really enjoyed working with Lawyers in Schools. It is a very well organised programme and the quality of resource that it provides means that I can focus my energy on engaging with the young people – and that is a very rewarding experience indeed. I look forwards to signing up again next year.”