Why should you consider recruiting a Law undergraduate from the University of Exeter?

A number of University of Exeter undergraduate Law students have joined our in-house legal team on year-long professional placements over the past 5 years. We consider the students to be invaluable members of the team and whilst with us, they have all gained a wealth of experience working in a busy, fast-paced legal team and have made good connections with national and international panel law firms.

Paul Merrett - Managing Legal Counsel at EDF Energy

Michelmores launched its Placement programme in 2022 and have had a number of fantastic Exeter students join us in our industrial placement roles. During the year it is great to see placement students growing from an admin to Paralegal role and developing essential skills in communication, attention to detail, creative thinking and commercial awareness – all of which will be essential when going onto a training contract and beyond. I cannot recommend the placement year and Exeter students enough.

Georgie Lewis - Recruitment Business Partner, Michelmores

The University of Exeter’s flagship work experience programme in Law is the LLB Law with Professional Placement.
Hosting a placement student gives you a chance to develop and nurture potential future employees, creating a direct route to some of the best early-career talent in the market.
Students can bring essential skills developed through academic course content into the workplace, such as legal problem solving, drafting, commercial awareness, and competency with consulting case law and legal databases.
As a result, students can provide quality support at a reduced cost by assisting with research tasks, document review, and administrative duties whilst contributing to their professional growth.
The energy and enthusiasm of law students can contribute to a richer, more diverse discussion on legal matters within your organisation.
You can foster leadership skills amongst your senior staff and professional development opportunities for junior staff through supervision and mentoring opportunities.
Collaborating with higher education institutions through placements can build long-term relationships, enhancing your network within the legal community.

What are the requirements for a placement on the Programme?

Placement to last for a minimum of 28 weeks up to 15 months.

Placement can commence from June of the student's 2nd year - student to return by the following September for 4th year of degree.

Work placements can take place in a law firm, an in-house legal team or in any business-focussed environment (e.g. in HR or marketing.)
The work is expected to be of a graduate level including entry-level salary (typically meeting the National Living Wage as a minimum, even if the student is not yet 21.)
A key aim for the placement programme is that the student should develop graduate-level skills in an area they are interested in pursuing after they have finished their degree. Therefore, as far as reasonable, students should at some stage of the placement be given tasks that are more advanced and ‘hands-on’ than simply shadowing. These could be research tasks, administration, client interaction, drafting documents, and so on.

Students are expected to complete academic assignments whilst on placement, including a reflective essay, business report and CV. These are due in March of the student's placement year - some dedicated time for students to work on these during the working week is appreciated.

Available to UK and International students, with administration for Tier 4 visa monitoring undertaken by the university.

There is no requirement to offer sponsorship an international student so long as the work is registered as a placement with the university.