Careers & Employability - Law & Criminology

Introduction

The Department of Law and Criminology attaches particular importance to raising the awareness of all students in relation to the career opportunities open to them upon graduation and making sure that they are in a position to pursue those opportunities.

In addition to providing individual careers support and guidance to our students throughout their programmes of study, the main activities through which we achieve these objectives include a careers visiting speakers programme, a Pro Bono Law Clinic, a Law Clinic experience module, the Mooting Society and the Alumni Associations. Our close links with the legal community are strengthened also via the Professional Advisory Panels.

Guest Speakers

The department hosts a number of events which students from across the department can attend. Not only do they provide students with an expert insight into interesting areas of law, criminology, policing and politics they also allow students to network with practitioners and Edge Hill graduates. At these events, the department has attracted lots of people including; a former in-house lawyer for Microsoft, a senior Crown Prosecutor, the in-house lawyer for Everton Football Club and the Vice President of the International Criminal Court. An example of past events include a media law seminar, with guest speaker Paul Tweed, a libel lawyer, who has represented clients such as Britney Spears, Whitney Houston and Liam Neeson, providing an excellent insight into his work. The Vice President of the International Criminal Court gave a keynote speech at an Edge Hill conference on 15 years of the International Criminal Court.

Mooting

The Department organises mooting workshops which enhance our students’ mooting and advocacy skills. A moot is an oral presentation of a legal issue or problem against an opposing team and before a panel of judges. It is perhaps the closest experience that you will have whilst at university to appearing in court. To learn more about mooting, and to see a moot in action, watch the video below:

You will be given the opportunity to join the Departmental Mooting Society and enter the internal mooting competitions. The final of the competition is judged by members of the legal profession, with all the finalists representing Edge Hill University in the external mooting competitions.

Professional Advisory Panels

The Legal Professional Advisory Panel comprises representatives of local and regional legal practices. The Panel is chaired by Robert Collinson and meets with members of the Department two or three times a year, and provides a forum for discussion of current issues of relevance to our degree programmes and to legal practitioners. We are particularly concerned to ensure that future developments in law provision at Edge Hill are informed by the needs and requirements of practice.

The Criminology Professional Advisory Panel has members from a range of criminal justice and related occupations including the police, probation, prison service, youth services, social housing and victim support. The Panel is chaired by Professor Andrew Millie and meets with members of the Department’s criminology team twice yearly. The Panel is a forum for discussion of current issues of relevance to local practitioners and to our criminology and criminal justice students. We are particularly interested in opportunities for student volunteering and with issues of employability.

Pro Bono Law Clinic

The Department runs a Pro Bono Law Clinic.

Undergraduate third year law students provide free of charge legal advice to students and staff at the University as well as members of the public. The students providing legal advice are supervised by experienced legal practitioners who are academic staff members of the Department, as well as legal practitioners working for a range of practices based in the region. The key aims of the initiative are to enable students to gain practical experience of working in legal practice and to provide a no-cost advisory legal service to the student community.

Director of the Law Clinic and Solicitor Robert Collinson said: “All law employers these days expect students at the very least to have undertaken work experience if they wish to work in legal practice. Law Students who have the opportunity to take the significant further steps of interviewing and advising a real client, have a substantial advantage in terms of convincing employers that they have the commitment and skills needed in the modern world of legal practice.”

Law Alumni Association

To develop further networking opportunities and career development advice for our graduates, the Department has an established Law Alumni Association.

We are keen to maintain our relationships with students after they graduate and to hear about how their careers progress. We regularly invite our past students to careers talks, which enables them to share their career experiences with our current students. Graduates give a lot of inspiration to our current students, and practical advice to help them in their job search and career planning.

About

Our Law Alumni Association, consisting of over 400 Edge Hill law graduates, is committed to promoting work experience and networking opportunities for our law students. The Association is dedicated to providing mentoring for current students by way of informal chats and careers talks. The law Alumni association in conjunction with the Law team hosts an annual Question Time Event. Law graduates on the panel have included solicitors, solicitor advocates, barristers, lecturers, a CPS trainee, a company secretary, a football association Judicial panel member and a Super League Rugby referee.

The Executive Committee of the Law Alumni Association is comprised of current undergraduates, student law society representatives, academic staff, alumni and members of the professional community. The Executive Team work to provide an exciting collection of activities for the Community to get involved with, including:

Annual Lecture Series
Undergraduate Awards (attended by Alumni)
Programme of Professional Networking Events.

The Department, in conjunction with the Student Law Society, host an annual Law Alumni Question time and networking event. The panel is made up predominantly of Edge Hill Law Graduates from the legal profession. It provides an excellent opportunity for Edge Hill Law students to find out more about life as a lawyer and develop key professional skills.

Two of our graduates shared their experience at the event:

“The question time panel was a great way to develop my networking skills which will be essential in my future career path.” Eleanor Groves LLB law with Criminology Graduate

“The question time panel was an informative and innovative way to establish industry connections that are really tough to make on your own.” Carl Disley LLB Law Graduate

As you can see from this video, Alumni and Panel members provide excellent advice to Edge Hill Law students.

Law Alumni Association President – Daniel Conroy (LLB (Hons) Law, 2011)

Law Alumni Profiles

Daniel Conroy

Trainee Solicitor, Weightmans
LLB (Hons) Law

Amie Coudis

Associate, Keoghs
LLB (Hons) Law

gareth-farrelly-1 Gareth Farrelly

Solicitor, Bermans
LLB (Hons) Law

Louise Hayhurst

Case Worker, Ministry of Justice
LLB (Hons) Law

James Pearson

Solicitor, Brabners
LLB (Hons) Law

Daniel Radford

Head of Legal, ATLB
LLB (Hons) Law

Alumni Events

Law Alumni Question Time

Friday 16th November2018

This event provided a fantastic opportunity to ask questions of our excellent panel members and to talk more informally to them with a drink in hand.

Panel Members and Profiles

Chair – Dominic Walker (EHU alumnus 2014) – Trainee Solicitor JMW

Amy Wong (EHU alumnus 2012) Solicitor-Advocate - DWF Advocacy Ltd

Amy graduated from Edge Hill in 2012. She completed her LPC in 2013 and went onto work in practice as a Personal Injury Fee Earner until obtaining her training contract with Irvings Law in 2016. As part of her training contract she was afforded the opportunity to sit her higher rights exams and qualified as a solicitor in June 2018. She was granted her higher rights of audience in July 2018 and is now an in-house Solicitor-Advocate for DWF Advocacy.

Philip Jones (EHU alumnus 2016) BPTC Graduate, Paralegal - Hill Dickinson

After graduating from Edge Hill in summer 2016, Philip undertook the BPTC at BPP Manchester. He was called to the Bar in November 2017 by Gray’s Inn, and has worked as a Paralegal at Hill Dickinson since July 2017. He previously volunteered at the Citizens Advice Bureau and at Edge Hill’s Law Clinic.

James Pearson (EHU alumnus 2011) Solicitor – Brabners

Having obtained a first class degree in law, James trained and qualified as a solicitor at in international law firm and joined Brabners in April 2018 working primarily between the Manchester and Preston offices. He plays competitive rugby at Orrell Rugby Union and is also the Chair of the Board at Winstanley College, one of the top performing sixth form colleges in the country. James was formerly a Trustee of an Academy Trust
James is a commercial lawyer with a wealth of experience in advising on the drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts including: terms of business, broadcasting, sponsorship, publishing, agency, distribution, licensing, franchising, confidentiality and brand protection. James is also a data privacy expert and has led on major GDPR implementation projects.
James is a member of the sports and leisure sector team with a particular focus on sports related rules and regulations concerning sports governing bodies including FIFA, The FA, Premier League and Football League and RFU. James also advises on commercial and sporting contracts relating to transfers, intellectual property rights exploitation and protection, management and representation and playing contracts. James is also an UK Anti-Doping accredited advisor.

Lashay Keywood (EHU alumnus 2011) Solicitor – Cheshire Estate and Legal Ltd

Lashay graduated from Edge Hill in 2011. She is currently a Housing Solicitor at Cheshire Estate and Legal Ltd and also a Magistrate. She qualified in 2014 from a niche industrial disease claimant law firm and went on to work at an international law firm doing defendant disease work. Lashay decided she wanted to gain a better experience of other disciplines in law other than disease which meant changing law firms. She enjoys these new challenges as it has also given her a better understanding of different operational models.

Nadine Shanahan (EHU alumnus 2016) UK Student Recruitment Officer – Lancaster University

Nadine currently work for Lancaster University as a Student Recruitment Officer. This involves travelling across the UK to raise the awareness of the institution at schools, colleges and events. Prior to this, she worked as an Education Liaison Assistant for Edge Hill University’s Student Recruitment team. During her studies at Edge Hill, she worked as the Westlaw representative, leading workshops to help her peers use the service. She was also a Student Ambassador and both jobs gave her the right skills and experience to apply for a role in the Student Recruitment Team. A specification for Nadine’s current role was negotiating and influencing skills, which is something she developed greatly during her Law degree at Edge Hill University.

Ian Denham (EHU Law advisory panel member since 2014) Barrister - Outer Temple Chambers

Ian Denham is a barrister at Outer Temple Chambers who specialises in serious injury, wrongful death claims, cross-border claims, and claims with features of fraud, dishonesty and exaggeration.
Ian grew up in Kent and studied law at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. Following graduation, he spent a year working for Butterworths as a law reporter for the All England Law Reports.
In 2004, he commenced his pupillage at 8 King Street Chambers in Manchester and obtained tenancy the following year. Following the dissolution of 8 King Street in 2008, Ian joined 18 St John Street Chambers. In 2011, he moved across the road to 9 St John Street Chambers, where he developed a specialism in cross-border personal injury law as well as defending suspected fraudulent ‘holiday sickness’ claims.

As of June 2018, Ian became a member of Outer Temple Chambers in London, where his practice focuses predominantly on claims involving serious injury with a cross-border element.
Ian is a contributor to the ‘APIL Guide to Accidents Abroad’ (Crowther QC, 2018) and lectures extensively on cross-border personal injury law topics both domestically and abroad.
Away from work, Ian lives in Cheshire and remains fanatical about all things NFL.

Contact

If you would like to find out more about our Alumni Associations, please contact Adam Pendlebury.

01695 657624
adam.pendlebury@edgehill.ac.uk

Caroline Norton Award

This award recognises excellence, with the successful student winning a certificate and a summer vacation scheme with Myerson Solicitors LLP, a top-tier ranked law firm in the Northwest.

The award winner can experience up to four seats in Commercial, Construction and Corporate, Commercial Litigation and Commercial Property, Employment, Intellectual Property, IT/Technology, Property Litigation and Residential Conveyancing.

In 2020, the award was presented to 2nd year LLB Law student Lucy Moran in recognition of achieving the highest mark overall in Land Law module.

Celebrate Excellence Law Award

The Celebrate Excellence in Law Award, will be awarded to the highest achiever in Advanced Lawyers Skills for this academic year. Along with a certificate and trophy, the winning student will be awarded three weeks work experience on a part time basis and receive from CEL Solicitors £500.

CEL Solicitors are a nationwide family-run law firm, specialising in civil litigation. Services include; general civil litigation, commercial and private, property litigation, data breach claims, Japanese knotweed claims, Plevin and financial misselling claims and housing disrepair claims.

Your work experience will take place at the head office, which is based in the centre of Liverpool.

Best of Luck.

Contact

If you would like to find out more about our careers and employability support, or if you are an employer who can potentially make placements available in your organisation, please contact Robert Collinson.

01695 657617

Robert.Collinson@edgehill.ac.uk