Skills Conference for Stage 1 Kent law students

An annual event designed to help first-year law students achieve their full potential

Kent Law School’s annual Skills Conference for Stage 1 law students will be held online via Microsoft Teams on Monday 26 October.

The programme is designed to enable students to gain and develop the essential skills they need in order to be able to reach their full potential.

Sessions include:

  • Working with Resources for More Marks: Kerry Love will talk you through research: how to start it, what to do with it when you’ve found it. Make the most of your research time!
  • Effective Preparation: Too Many Deadlines, Not Enough time? In this session Dr Hannah Phillips will walk you through the steps you need to take when presented with multiple deadlines. She will also help translate the marking criteria into plain English, so that you can factor this into the planning and writing-up stages of your assessment preparation. Good preparation = good marks!
  • Finding References, using Westlaw: Confused about where and how to find resources for your assignments and seminar reading? Theresa Thurston (Faculty Librarian) will give you a quick introduction to this essential skill which you need to get a 2:1 or higher in Law
  • How to Reference: A practical interactive session with Dr Allison Holmes, which walks you through the steps to reference correctly and easily, with opportunities to practise and get feedback on common mistakes in real time. Get advice before your first assignment!
  • Avoiding the P word – understanding how to avoid an academic discipline referral: Chair of the Kent Law School Academic Discipline Committee, Alan McKenna will take you through the various problems students encounter that can lead them to be referred for a breach of the academic discipline regulations; showing you how to avoid such a situation occurring
  • Just Ask Q&A: Come along and ask our panel your burning questions. Johanne Thompson (Director Education, Stage 1), Hattie Peacocke (Student Support Manager) and Claire Ashton (Programmes Officer) will be there to provide answers to all of your questions.


Law students at Kent are taught in a supportive environment where everything possible is done to foster both their intellectual and personal development and where staff are approachable and helpful. In addition to the Skills Conference, a broad framework of support for law students at Kent is provided by (among others), the Law School’s Employability and Career Development Officer, Academic Advisers, Student Advisers and a dedicated team in the School’s Skills Hub, providing practical guidance and tailored support.