Current student Esther Akpovi is studying the LLB with Legal Innovation and Technology at our Bloomsbury campus. With a career ambition of becoming a social tech entrepreneur or a governance and legal tech lawyer, it was this course that helped her decide that we were the University for her. We caught up with Esther to discuss her first year of study with us and how we are helping her take the first steps towards reaching her ambition.
By Cara Fielder. Published 14 May 2020. Last updated 9 September 2021.
I choose ULaw because it was the only University in the UK that offered a joint LLB with Legal Innovation and Technology. I was offered places at other Universities but I’m very passionate about technology and wanted to study Legal Innovation and Technology. It’s one of the courses that ULaw offers which differentiates them from other universities. The law modules focused on tech are specialised, so your option modules are not average. You don’t want to be average, you want to stand out.
Over the summer I made the decision to enhance my technical skills because the future of work demands the workforce to have these skills. Within law, technology has really changed due to artificial intelligence, and that’s one of the modules on offer. I see a lot of people that study a normal law degree asking questions like ‘how is cryptocurrency going to change what lawyers do?’ I was asking the same thing, so why not study it?
My personal tutor has been very supportive. She is also my academic tutor for common law, methods and ethics. In my first session with her, we went through what I was currently doing. I was applying for work experience and she explained the whole process to me, she made it really clear what I needed to be doing. She was so welcoming, I know that if I ever needed anything, I could go to Alexandra. I struggled with common law at the start and she made it easier to understand - it’s just great knowing that there is someone you can go to and ask for advice.
I am running to become a member of the Student Board. I wanted to run because I feel like it is really important to be immersed in the community. Just going to University isn’t everything, you need to be part of the process and environment. I feel the best way to give back to the community we’re in is to actually bring ideas to the board and make the campus better for everyone. I’ve also signed up to some societies, I signed up to the netball society as I used to play netball when I was younger. I thought, why not carry it on when I’m at University?
Some of the key skills you learn at ULaw are organisation and time management. Come with an open mind, connect with new people and do your research into the course and career prospects as well. Before I decided that I would come to ULaw, I went online, I went to one of the open days, I even called in and asked one of the people working there why they thought I should come. I spoke to a student ambassador and I went online to ask a student on LinkedIn what their experience was. Everything was very positive - which helped me to make my overall decision to come here.
I love the people in my workshop, I meet someone new in every large group. I’ve made some amazing friends, some of them I met during the ULaw boat party at the very beginning of my course. ULaw has allowed me to try new activities, my favourite one was at the very start. The induction process is three or four days when you don’t do any coursework but instead take part in a personal development session.
We discovered more about ourselves and how we learn and I think that’s important because ULaw really focuses on employability and academic development. Along with gaining professional skills, or just growing as a person, you need to know who you are. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses and as someone who is really keen on personal growth, it is great that ULaw focuses on that. It’s more focused on the individual and how they learn.
ULaw has really supported me by catering to me as an individual. I found out this year that I process things slower than the average student and that could have been really disheartening - to wonder if I had a disability or not. ULaw has made the process easier for me, whether that’s clearer instructions, letting me know how I can get extra time in exams or just removing the stigma of being different. Anyone can come here, you are not going to be shunned because you’re different. It’s about community and being collaborative.
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