CSET Summer School 2011!

Just back from London and completely forgot I had created a blawg! I think this is the perfect opportunity to get started with it and to tell others what a fantastic time I had and what a large range of skills I have acquired as well as excellent advice from City solicitors/trainees. It certainly made me realise that law is something I want to stick with, and to keep working hard at and being one out of 103 chosen to attend (out of 850 applicants!), it was certainly a superb experience that I would recommend to anyone to apply for next year!

CSET is the City Solicitors' Educational Trust who sponsor the event with TARGETevents. It runs once a year and roughly 100 students will win a place over nearly a thousand, I was lucky to get my place! It focuses on commercial law.

I arrived on Monday morning at Euston at 8AM after a 10 hour train journey from Aberdeen and met some other girls out of the 103 people invited before setting off on the strange new world known as the tube to Queen Mary University. On arrival, we received name badges with our universities underneath our names so we could be identified throughout the week. Many times I had "Robert Gordon University? Never heard of it..." being said but I didn't recognise many of the English universities people go to. The day started off with an ice breaker session over lunch where we had a "bingo" grid which would be filled with matching names to the answers to questions. I think from all the travelling we had done from the night before, no one could be bothered...! We then had a skills session which dealt with improving your CV for law jobs, interview skills and a little on what commercial awareness is. We were given our keys to our rooms for the week and given an hour to unpack and get settled - student accommodation at Queen Mary is lovely! We had to be back in the main lecture theatre to find which rooms we were to go to for our next task: commercial law in practice. We met with representatives from some of the City law firms and had to interview them about various things such as how they got their job, why they chose that firm, what they enjoy about their job, what a typical day is like and so on. It was like this in rotation with a new lawyer or trainee every 10 minutes for an hour and was enlightening as to what it is like to work in London, a completely different way to work compared with here in Scotland. Either that or I just haven't explored Scottish firms enough! At night, we met the representatives again at a drinks and buffet reception to informally network there. I ran straight to bed after that, I was absolutely exhausted.

7.30 on Tuesday morning and I decided to miss breakfast to lie in bed for another hour or so. I ate mini chocolate croissants in bed instead! Finally got out of bed at 8.45 to get ready to meet everyone in the lecture theatre at 9.30. We had a guest speaker from in in-house lawyer from GlaxoSmithKline who gave us a presentation on her work on intellectual property and evidence of some copyright breaches of some of their products, a possibility for the future, it was very, very interesting. Between this and another guest speaker, we had a tea or coffee break. The next guest speaker was a barrister who claimed that people who genuinely enjoy public speaking are weirdos! Can't say I disagree with that. To be a barrister, you have to be confident and you must enjoy public speaking as well as essay writing. Something I do not think I would particularly enjoy! At lunch time, we were put into groups before going off on our own to prepare arguments for the debating skills session. We had to debate against having a DNA database of criminals' information to aid criminal investigations - which we lost! - and also for the idea of a minimum weight being imposed for professional supermodels. We managed a tie on that round. I was useless though, only managing a line and buckling under the pressure of having eyes watching me. I improved slightly for the second round but not by much. In the third round, I spoke well and "banged down" my opponent's arguments but my team mate also mentioned that I said "um" far too much so something to think about if I ever brave mooting! Unfortunately, the guest speaker for the evening could not make it, so instead the organisers of the event gave us a presentation on commercial awareness and how to be commercially aware before letting us go off and explore London. We went for food in a local pub mainly for cheapness and later on in the evening visited a club called The Light (Jagerbombs were £7! Ridiculous!) before moving on to 333 Mother (a single Sailor Jerry's and coke cost me £5!) and the night was a bit of a dud. Nevermind. Arrived home at midnight and went to bed ready for the next day's activities.

7.30AM came and went, but Wednesday, I got up for a cooked breakfast at 8 before getting ready for the day ahead. Worth getting out of bed for! Today we had a competitive case study to do in groups which went on for most of the day. It was interesting as you worked with representatives from the different firms again but the day dragged on far too long. I learned to look closer into cases and to see all the facts which will be very handy when I get back to university in September. Another guest speaker appeared who gave us tips and advice on how to excel has a students and how to impress when applying for jobs. All of us were then split into groups of 20 before embarking on an adventure to a City law firm. Our group visited the Allen & Overy building which was amazing. The building itself comprises of a bar, a restaurant, a coffee bar, a terrace on the roof looking onto London, chiropractor, hairdresser, beauty therapist, doctor, dentist, massage parlour, even beds! There were more hidden treasures that I can't remember about. You would never have to leave! It was good to know that they take on Scottish students as a placement would be great there, they seem to really look after their employees and they all seem very happy to work there. I would be too with all these perks but most of all, I want a job I can enjoy and they seem like they can deliver. We had a question and answer session with two of the trainees which heightened my interest in the firm further to hear what it is like to work there. We made our way to the Thames after this, getting on a boat next to London Bridge for a buffet and networking dinner down the Thames. The food wasn't good, and I felt seasick ha ha. After a drink or two I was a lot more livelier. A few representatives spoke to us but some were very fussy and would only speak to people they liked the look of, which was a shame, leaving many at a disadvantage. From this boat trip, you quickly learned that not all solicitors are nice and some would like to think they are big shots. For example, one ordered a few drinks at the bar and was willingly handing over a £10 note, before quickly changing his mind asking if the bar had change for £50, clearly showing off in front of more than 100 law students. This same solicitor invited "chosen" students to a club in London but many of us followed anyway. He paid for some taxis to the club and paid for a few students drinks. Drinks, again, were £5 for a single and £9 for a double. Extortionate in comparison with Aberdeen!!! As we were leaving, another solicitor started talking with the three of us who were in a group. He claimed that he owned his own law firm and we were welcome to come back and he would buy is some drinks. Sleazy if you ask me! We heard him speaking to someone earlier and he only works in the HR department of a law firm he obviously did NOT own. Good to see the other side of the "nice" lawyers but it was still a good night. We arrived home near half past eleven and spent a few hours talking in the living area before heading off to bed. 

I avoided breakfast again on Thursday morning before getting ready, packing and handing in the keys. We had workshops for four hours with the Government Legal Service and the Financial Services Authority where we changed fictional legislation, decided whether to act on a dodgy mortgage company, decided whether the 19 year old young mother Wilma Flinstone (who  is pregnant and in prison) should be entitled to a place in the mother and baby unit and lots of other interesting tasks. We had one more guest speaker from the GLS to talk about the line of work there and what we could get out of working for them, but I don't think the GLS is for me. A large number of others thought differently for themselves though! We received certificates to say we had completed the CSET Summer School 2011 before departing on our way home. A 5 hour wait at Euston before boarding the 10 hour train journey home. More sleep deprivation, a brilliant week away but at least soon I'd be home to sleep and to resume to my normal student life.