The Durham University Law Society is one of most successful academic societies at Durham and this year it took on a new challenge – running a mentoring scheme that paired students with lawyers (both barristers and solicitors) to allow students to gain valuable insight into the legal profession.
Beth Zheng, 3rd Year Law at University College (Castle), created the scheme after realising the benefits her two legal mentors had afforded her throughout her studies, and thus wanted to extend these benefits to the wider Durham legal communities. She says that at the start of the COVID pandemic lockdown, it become apparent how much more difficult networking (which is a core component of the legal industry) was going to become for Durham law and non-law students alike. Nevertheless, she recognised the great alumni connections of Durham law school around the world and through her efforts the Durham Law Society mentoring scheme was launched.
“The legal profession has a reputation for being one of the most daunting to enter, so having someone who is a lawyer to engage with will hopefully make the process a bit easier and understandable,” says Beth—something I certainly agree with!
My fellow mentees Marianne Chow (1st Year Law at Hild Bede College) and Bea Hale (2nd Year History and Spanish at Hild Bede College) and I were matched with Gavin Murphy, a lawyer in Ottawa, Canada who is both a barrister and solicitor. Gavin holds a Master of Laws (Distinction) from Durham University and is a proud alumnus of the Graduate Society (now Ustinov College). As a successful lawyer, he worked at Canada’s Competition Bureau and on legal technical assistance projects in Ukraine and Bangladesh with the Department of Justice of Canada. He currently serves as editor of two legal journals. Now semi-retired, Gavin keeps in touch with the legal community through publishing scholarly articles on a variety of legal topics and by guest lecturing in Canada and Europe, including at Durham University in the past.
After learning about the mentoring scheme through Newswire, Gavin contacted Beth and offered his services to aid Durham students. Having a mentor on the other side of the ocean was not a problem. The virtual nature of the scheme, conducted through Zoom, meant it was unaffected by both COVID and the distance between Durham and Canada. When I asked Gavin why he volunteered for the mentoring scheme, he pointed to his desire to make the legal profession as strong as it can be, which he believes starts with motivating and encouraging students.
Gavin’s connections in the legal publishing industry have resulted in fantastic opportunities for Marianne and me to get our names published in a legal setting, and to conduct legal research and editing. Our work has been recognised in e-competitions in Europe and JustOttawa in Canada. Bea has also had the opportunity to be published in the Canadian Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law in her pursuit to become a barrister.
Being a 2nd year non-law student, applying for legal opportunities can sometimes feel a little like swimming against the tide, but my confidence and understanding of the law have improved dramatically through the legal experience gained by working with Gavin. As a non-law student aspiring to enter the conversion program in 2022, the opportunity the mentoring scheme has afforded me to develop key skills necessary to become a lawyer such as legal research, editing and commercial awareness have been invaluable. Bea agrees, stating that she ‘never anticipated’ that mentorship sessions could be so ‘enjoyable and fruitful’.
Marianne has also had a similarly positive experience – stating that what she got out of the scheme was ‘so much more’ than she ‘imagined’. As well as editing articles for Gavin, she has carried out legal research on EU law and regularly quizzes him about career paths in law. When I spoke to Marianne, her gratitude for the mentoring scheme as a whole shone through.
The success of this year’s scheme has resulted in a mentoring coordinator becoming a permanent fixture on the Durham Law Society’s Executive Committee. To any current Durham students considering a career in law, or any alumni currently working in legal roles, please do get involved in the 2022 iteration of the scheme!