The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of legal work experience is often law firms. I spent hours on end contacting law firms enquiring about work experience, with many rejections or no responses. With the knowledge that work experience is vital (especially when following a career in law), I continued to research different options for work experience, which is when I stumbled upon in-house legal teams. Although I had heard of these before, I hadn’t looked into them much. After doing more research however, I discovered many companies, such as Barclays and Network Rail, have their own in-house legal teams, which are becoming more and more popular to gain work experience with due to the competitiveness in traditional law firms. One corporation that caught my eye was the legal services in the National Health Service. As well as applying to undertake experience in the legal department, I also applied to the Human Resources department due to its link with employment law.
Having been very unsure of which area of law I hoped to specialise in, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try out something that I had no prior knowledge on, or particularly considered before. I had a quick response after applying, and it was arranged for me to spend a week with the corporation - with the first half in the Human Resources departments and the second half in the Legal department.
Personally, I found the first half of the week with the Human Resources (HR) team most beneficial, as it was a lot more hands-on and I was able to take part in a range of roles. I wasn’t aware of how frequently law is incorporated into so many different roles and aspects of HR, thus this experience really opened my eyes to the possible legal opportunities within this sector. Below I will now explain some of the roles I witnessed and assisted with over the few days.
Witnessing a Dismissal
Possibly my favourite and most enlightening part of the week was having the opportunity to witness part of a job dismissal. I simply sat and watched this dismissal, thus I didn’t actively do anything, but it was extremely informative. The dismissal involved a woman who had taken a considerable amount of time off work due to a range of reasons, however the individual was not present due to illness so a friend was representing her, alongside a lawyer, whilst I attended with members of the Trust. It was interesting to witness the debate between the two sides on the individual’s whereabouts and the reasons why she should not be dismissed. Since I was only there for the week, this was the only hearing I got to witness of this case, so I do not know the outcome, but it was informative to see part of the process behind a dismissal.
Pre-Employment Checks
I spent a large part of my time being taught how to undertake pre-employment checks for new employees and why these are a crucial part of the recruitment process. I enjoyed doing this as I got to actively learn by inputting the data myself. The reason behind these checks is to verify that an individual meets the preconditions of the role they are applying for, and to reduce the risk of hiring someone who could harm or cause the business difficulties, keeping patients and staff safe.
Arranging Maternity and Paternity Leave
One employee talked me through the procedure of arranging and allowing maternity and paternity leave. I was shown the new laws behind parental leave and how these are applied to different roles within the NHS. This was extremely helpful to help learn how laws are implemented in human resources.
The Rest of The Week
I spent the remainder of my week in the NHS Legal Department. This department was considerably different to the HR one; for starters I was only introduced to two team members, unlike the larger and more diverse team within HR. Moreover, this experience was a lot less ‘hands on’ since I spent the majority of my time reading through past cases. Although at the time I found it quite difficult to understand the cases, the ladies helping me talked me through them and it was very beneficial in helping me understand cases now. One of the main issues I came across was negligence within the hospital, which has in turn helped me understand tort law and the topic of negligence. For example, one case I read concerned a midwife’s negligence during labour, as the parent’s of the baby sued the NHS. It was interesting to not only read the case themselves, but also the case files that accompanied them with details on debates prior to court.
My time undertaking work experience with the NHS was both enjoyable and enlightening, and I would undoubtedly recommend in-house legal departments as a way of gaining work experience. The team was so enthusiastic to show me and let me participate in as much as I could and the experience really opened my eyes to other options within a career in law. As well as this, it has helped with my university studies since I got to experience what it is like to work against claims of hospital negligence. If I choose to study employment law then my experience in the Human Resources department would be undeniably useful. I would most definitely consider more in-house legal teams when looking for work experience in the future.
Libby Gissing is a second year LLB Law student at the University of Sussex with a keen interest in family and criminal law. Outside of studies, I enjoy going to the gym and cooking.
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