The University of Law (ULaw) has revealed the winners of its new mentoring competition giving eight students the chance to work with leading business professionals.
The competition provided the opportunity for students to gain dedicated one-to-one mentorship, from one of ULaw’s highly experienced and professional alumni working at leading brands such as Google, Channel 4 and Aviva.
The winners, announced in January, have been matched with tailored mentors. Joana Jere, Contract Affairs Manager at Careers Moves Group on assignment at Google, was paired with LLM student, William Pat-Sowe and Michael O'Neill, Senior Legal Counsel at Aviva, will be mentoring LPC LLM student, Jessica Boakye and MA Law student, Anthony Desmond.
Amelia Wilson, Program Lawyer from Channel 4, will mentor LPC students, Hon Kei William Mak and William Headlam-Wells and TK IU, Solicitor and Mediator at Kwok, Ng & Chan in Hong Kong, will mentor LPC student Shana Stephany McBean and LLM student Isabella Wong.
Rebecca St Requier, Derivates Associate at Barclays Legal, will mentee Samiz Mustak, who is studying the LPC LLM part time.
The application process included a 750-word written submission, explaining what benefits a mentor would give students in setting them up for success and achieving their career aspirations.
The entries were then be reviewed by a judging panel which consisted of ULaw’s Head of Brand, Lysette Gauna, Sandie Gaines, Dean of the London Bloomsbury Campus, John Watkins, Director of Employability, Matt Tomlinson, Leeds Campus’s Dean and Marco Mongiello, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, at The University of Law Business School.
The eight winners were chosen based on a clear explanation understanding the benefits of mentoring, clarity and detail of how the three hours of mentoring would be used and detail of how having a mentor would be a huge advantage for them.
Mentor, Michael O’Neill, Senior Legal Counsel at Aviva, said: “As a student, this sort of scheme would have been invaluable to me. It wasn’t obvious to me that I would have benefited from having a mentor and nor was it commonplace to have one, certainly in my peer group. I hope that we will be able to develop a good working relationship quickly and that, through our interactions, we will be able to identify the areas that the mentee wishes to develop. I hope to provide insight and guidance as to how the mentee can continue to learn and develop their skills, thinking and approach to their future aspirations.”
Amelia Wilson, Programme Lawyer at Channel 4, said: “My aim is to be my mentee’s cheerleader, working through things that they feel may be holding them back and reminding them of their achievements and what they have to offer. I have been lucky enough to have had wonderful colleagues who have supported and championed me, this has shaped who I am and why it’s important for me to do the same for others. I want my mentee to know that they know that someone is rooting for them and to have the self-belief and confidence that they can achieve their goals.”
Winner of a mentorship with Aviva’s, Michael O’Neil, Jessica Boakye, LPC LLM student, said: “This mentorship will be an invaluable asset to my career ambitions. Being mentored by a highly experienced solicitor means I will benefit from an immense amount of transferable knowledge that will be very beneficial to my legal journey. It is additionally an exceptional opportunity to directly connect and gain deeper insight into the workings of a career in law.”
Matched with Channel 4’s Amelia Wilson, LPC student, Will Headlam-Wells, said: “I feel that working with Amelia could give me priceless insight from a practicing solicitor in my area of interest that would help me on the way to qualifying, help me fine tune my career planning, introduce me to people, identify areas for improvement and give me encouragement and confidence to achieve these goals.”
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