Kent law student Kausara Rasaki will receive a year of personalised careers support after securing a place on a prestigious programme designed to support students from under-represented backgrounds.
The upReach Law Springboard programme provides tailored, one-to-one support to eligible university students looking to join the commercial law sector. As one of 90 upReach Associates across the UK, Kausara will be matched with a dedicated upReach Programme Coordinator who will help her explore career options, develop commercial awareness skills, and widen her professional network.
Kausara will also receive extensive support with making applications to leading vacation schemes and will be able to apply for exclusive opportunities at multinational law firm Slaughter and May (who sponsor the programme).
The opportunity to apply to the programme was promoted via a weekly bulletin distributed to law students and via a page on the Law School’s ‘Get into Law’ blog highlighting organisations with a diversity agenda. Both the bulletin and the blog are managed by the Law School’s Employability and Placements Manager Jayne Instone.
Kausara said: ‘It was particularly appealing to learn the benefits of being an Upreach Associate included personalised mentoring for students who are interested in pursuing a career in Commercial Law, alongside exclusive work experience opportunities with their partners.’
Kausara has been making the most of opportunities to develop her employability skills at Kent by participating in the Kent Careers Employability Award, the Law School’s Academic Coaching for Excellence scheme, and a mock interview arranged by Jayne. She’s also involved with the work of Kent Law Clinic and the Kent Union Virtual Buddy Scheme.
Her experiences at Kent helped strengthen Kausara’s application to upReach. She said: ‘In the application, it was important to be able to identify the type of skills that I have and the ones that I needed to develop. Having taken part in the careers award last year, where I carried out a SWOT analysis on my skills, it was easier for me to identify those areas.’
Constructive feedback received from her mock interview with Jayne also helped with Kausara’s preparation and she was able to apply the lessons learned during her interview with upReach.
Jayne said: ‘Having a mock interview offers an excellent opportunity to make mistakes in a safe environment, to learn from those mistakes, and to apply all the tips you pick up in the real interview.’
Kausara is in the second year of her Law LLB degree studies and has chosen to add a year learning Spanish to her degree. Whilst she’s still not yet certain about whether to pursue a legal or non-legal career, she welcomes the opportunities awaiting her in the upReach programme. She said: ‘Being an Upreach Associate is going to give me the privilege of showcasing my talent and being more than just a working-class student.’
Learn more about our law degree programmes at Kent.