Legal Wales is excited to announce that candidates have now been selected for its 2020 Summer Scheme, run in partnership with London-based charity the Lord Edmund Davies Legal Education Trust (LEDLET). The Scheme is designed to give a group of Year 12 pupils from Wales, who have no connections to the law, an insight into legal careers - and the confidence to pursue such a career.
Twenty-four17-year-olds from North, West and South Wales, and from rural and urban areas, will take part in a ground-breaking online programme of events over 5 days. Sessions will cover university applications, studying Law and professional qualifications; speakers will give a flavour of what it is like to work as a barrister, solicitor or legal executive in London or in Wales; while other sessions will focus on relevant skills, such as analysing a piece of legislation and debating. All the sessions will be interactive, and many will take place in smaller groups, to make it easier for all the students to participate fully.
In light of the Education Minister's announcement about the reopening of schools in Wales, Legal Wales and LEDLET Trustees are considering whether the current Scheme dates are still appropriate and will keep the selected students informed of any changes.
We hope that 2021 will see a return to residential Schemes in Wales and London - but the online experience may suggest additions and improvements that prove a positive legacy of the extraordinary circumstances of 2020.
Legal Wales and LEDLET offer mentoring to all those who applied for the Scheme and who could not be offered a place. This process has already started and we would welcome more requests for mentoring, to support as many young people in Wales as possible to follow Lord Edmund Davies's motto and Anelu'n Uchel - Aim High!