EP paid a visit to Medway Council and caught up with Mahalah Watson and Chris King from their Legal Service team, along with Humera Yousaf who is completing her work experience with them
Medway Council have been a supporter of the EP scheme for many years, and the Legal Services team have always been forthcoming in providing several students with opportunities for work experience. This year was no exception, and they have gladly welcomed three students across the summer. When we paid them a visit at the Medway offices at the end of July, Humera Yousaf was the student currently with them and she had plenty to share with us about the two weeks that she spent there!
It was great to see how engaged Humera was with her placement, and how much she had been enjoying herself. She highlighted the importance of completing work experience like this, as it has provided her with the practical knowledge that is so needed to start a career in the industry. She has found her time at Medway Council particularly valuable as she has had the opportunity meet so many team members with a huge variety of backgrounds and specialties, each with a wealth of knowledge and advice to pass onto her. She spent time drafting legal paperwork, warrants and completing redactions relating to many different areas of law, providing her with invaluable skills, which will help her to kickstart her career in the field. Humera was lucky enough to attend court on a couple of occasions – a really exciting experience for her, which allowed her to learn more of the formalities, processes and procedures involved with this aspect of the work.
Mahalah and Chris, as trusted and experienced organisers of EP opportunities, enjoy welcoming students to the Department who are as engaged as Humera has been. They commented that continuous feedback from students helps to shape the experience into one that benefits everyone. As soon as they learnt that Humera was interested in immigration, asylum and social aid, there was no question of ensuring that her experience was tailored to these areas as much as possible! It was clear that Humera thoroughly enjoyed her time at Medway Council and would very much encourage law students to apply for this incredibly worthwhile reward with them in the future!
Humera has always actively encouraged her friends to join up to the EP scheme during her three years studying at the University, and very much hopes that this case study will encourage even more to do so in the future! As she summarised so enthusiastically
“Being a law student at University can often feel overwhelming and scary, and for me, the EP Scheme has been a light in the darkness”.
And we very much hope that EP can be this for hundreds of students each and every year at the University of Kent.