On the 3rd October 2018, an informative and thought-provoking careers talk was held at the University of Derby Law School as to what it is like working in house. Organised by Rebekah Marangon, the talk was led by Claire Munro who has over 14 years’ experience of working in house as well as having worked in the private sector.
Claire provided both a diverse and informative approach to the information she gave during the course of the talk, using a mixture of her own opinions and observations over her time in the profession with facts of the career path, and how it contrasts with that of work in private practice.
The event itself was structured to be both engaging and informative as Claire started by explaining what in fact an in-house lawyer was before stemming into the organisations that can use in house lawyers, the types of in house lawyers and then comparisons and personal views on the field before wrapping with a question and answer segment which provided us with time to delve into any further detail we wanted and any further queries we had about the profession.
In giving her opinions and views of what it was like to work in house, this gave the talk an interesting and honest approach. Giving more than a straight forward overview, the talk went into detail you wouldn’t get by searching what it was like to work in house online which was a nice touch to the event. This provided us with a realistic insight by someone who had been in the field of work for a significant amount of time.
As a second-year law student I wanted to make the most of all the opportunities that present themselves during the course of the year in order to help further myself not both in just the field of law but also in terms of personal development and career prospects. My friends and I, as well as many other students in different levels of their academia found the talk to be very useful in highlighting a career path in law that is not as widely publicised. If it was not for this talk, it probably would not have come to our attention, which would have been a shame as many of us found this to be now at the top of our lists for proposed career opportunities we may want to undertake at the end of our study.
To conclude, I went into the talk hoping to learn more about a potential career path I may be interested in taking in the future. After the talk this was only solidified as Claire provided insight into how best to go about getting into a career of working in house and how different types of business and sizes of businesses can bring with it different approaches to the type of work you can be involved in. This being my first careers event it was a great first impression as to both how the events are run and to their usefulness. I am very thankful for these events that are being held and I look forward to attending many more over the coming weeks, as the quality and information provided during the events are a value not to be missed. I encourage anyone who has not yet been or is thinking about going to the events to go to as many as you can.
For me, they are a must if you either want to find out more about a career path or just in general want to help find a career you may be interested in.
Bailey Gillott
2nd year LLB with Criminology Student
