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The Student Lawyer – a brilliant initiative for law students to embrace
A great initiative for law students to embrace
I think ‘The Student Lawyer’ is a brilliant initiative for law students to embrace. Some say that being a student is the happiest time of a lawyer’s life, as you immerse yourself in a very intensive experience of case law and statute law, and critical thinking. There are many ‘soft skills’ that employers and colleagues look out for, including creativity, teamwork, attention-to-detail, proactivity, a commitment to quality, and a commitment for excellence. They also love clear communication skills. Unsurprisingly, these tend to be the same competences actively sought out on training contract application forms.
I strongly recommend law students to read, comment on, and write for the Student Lawyer, which is an outstanding contribution to legal education. The Twitter thread is relatively new, but well worth a follow! The sections, including contemporary news, civil, crime, education and practice, public, the world, literary review, guest contributions, and opinion, are very well written, and will be interesting to any law student, including barristers and solicitors to-be. New inventive features include the new front page and the ‘panels’, and make for a very rewarding experience for any online legal blog. In this regard, it is probably at the forefront of existing blogs. However, I think it is the quality of helpful articles for the student lawyer that sets this blog apart from its ‘competitors’, such as Amy Dimond’s guide to the LPC (and even solicitors’ accounts!)
I wish the blog very well, as I am hugely passionate about inclusivity. My aspiration is for all students to be at the heart of the legal education system, and contributing online is an excellent way for people to contribute (especially people who are physically disabled like me). In this increasingly competitive environment for training contracts and pupillages, you can do no harm, at the very least, by wishing to write for ‘The Student Lawyer’. People like to take on trainees with bags of energy and enthusiasm, and that is what is in abundance in ‘The Student Lawyer’. Because of the recent informative articles on mooting and the criminal law, this blog may be particularly inspiring for criminal barristers to-be.
An open invitation to blog for the 'Legal Aware' website
Thank you for expressing an interest in blogging for us, by signing up on the sheet at the BPP Student Association Freshers’ Fair at BPP Law School, Stamford Street, last Wednesday afternoon. This invitation is being extended to anyone with an interest in law, and not only students of BPP.
The ‘LegalAware’ blog is the official blog of the BPP Legal Awareness Society. This Society, run by students for all BPP students across their sites nationally, operates to further awareness of the importance of law to business, and of business to commercial and corporate lawyers.
Our blog is http://www.legal-aware.org, and is updated daily. The copy includes topical news stories about national and international legal news and law firms.
The blog is held in relatively high esteem by people related to legal blogging, including fellow legal bloggers and tweeters, journalists, GDL and LPC lecturers, recruitment managers of City law firms, and law students, to name, but a few.
For example, ‘LegalAware’ has been mentioned in a recent post on legal blogging by @vicmfoffatt entitled ‘UK Blawg Roundup #8 – Change!’ in a review of recent developments in UK legal blogging:
http://www.vicmoffatt.com/2011/09/uk-blawg-roundup-8-change.html
‘LegalAware’ has alo been on the RADAR recently of @AlexAldridgeUK, a very senior law journalist for ‘The Guardian’, with a specific mention here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/sep/01/disabled-lawyers-still-face-discrimination
It is therefore very important that we uphold standards in this blog. Probably the most senior legal blogger in the UK, @charonqc (whose blog is http://charonqc.wordpress.com), advised me, ‘it’s a good idea to let young tweeps have a go, as long as their stuff is readable’.
All three of the above follow me on Twitter (our thread is: https://twitter.com/#!/legalaware) with 1868 followers. You’ll get a feel for the people who follow from the conversations I have there daily on Twitter, for example with @LegalTrainee [https://twitter.com/#!/legaltrainee]. This is an unique, highly successful, initiative, with their Twitter profile described thus, “Engage directly w/ Trainees across our international offices. Direct conversation w/ @eversheds, online events & competitions to get your foot in the door!” They can offer unique insight, in that the participants are not ‘official’ members of Grad. Rec. I particularly like their thread as I’m a big believer in understanding the corporate culture of a firm before you apply there. Also, have a look out for their competition (described here): “Follow @LegalTrainee on Twitter, BraveNewTalent and Facebook to find out how to be in with a chance to win coffee with a Partner @Eversheds or lunch with a Trainee!”
If you were to blog for us, it’s a very informal arrangement, and posts are only edited in as much the grammar and spelling are corrected if necessary. Hopefully, this will not be necessary at this stage of your training. We are happy for you to state that you occasionally blog for us, if that is indeed true, but bear in mind that the blog is now well known and thought of, and ‘blogging for us’ does mean more than one short post in the course of the whole academic year.
If you are interested in giving legal blogging a go, please do contact me on blog@legal-recruit.org – no prior experience of blogging is fun, and I hope you find it fun. You will be immediately supplied with your own username and password for the admin site, so you can upload your own posts as or when you decide to do them. The posts are on the whole range of practice seats in commercial law, but you are strongly encouraged to write on other topics if this interests you (such as legal education or law applications, pro bono experience, your thoughts about the GDL or LPC, etc.) I’ll personally send this username or password by email, and it’ll be useful for me to have a rough idea as to what you may blog on.
A really good introduction to the WordPress ‘dashboard’ is:
http://wordpress.tv/2009/01/05/the-wordpresscom-dashboard-introduction/
See also,
Actually, you’ll probably find the use of the dashboard self-explanatory anyway.
It could be that you’re about to start the GDL or LLB(Hons) at BPP Law School. This blog is a great way of demonstrating you have extra-curricular activities/interests (albeit in law), and is definitely useful if you should wish to evidence communication skills, teamwork or commercial awareness as key competences in training contract applications. I hope that you will consider blogging, even if you have a training contract. (Please note that barristers and barristers-in-training have blogged on my site before, particularly in the area of human rights).
Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you, if you are interested. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Letter from Alan Johnson before the CSR
As I post this message from Alan Johnson MP, I am watching a really dreadful performance by David Cameron on the BBC in Prime Minister Questions.
Shibley,??
I wanted to say something to you today, before I deliver our response to the Coalition’s Comprehensive Spending Review. George Osborne will insist that there is no alternative to his huge and unnecessary cuts – that is simply not true. There is a better way and that’s where you can help.??
This is about saying, “No. There is an alternative”. ??I’m going to be honest with you, being in opposition does not mean that we can oppose every cut, or pretend to be in government. But it does mean setting out a clear alternative to what we regard as a reckless gamble with growth and jobs – a balanced approach that gets the deficit down without endangering the recovery.??You’re the expert on your local area, or how your family will be affected, so click here to tell us your better way ??Today’s reckless gamble with growth and jobs runs the risk of stifling the fragile recovery. Our alternative will be fair and will recognise these are central to our economic strategy – not a side issue. It will treat the public as intelligent enough to understand that bringing the world economy back from the brink of catastrophe is not the same as paying off a credit card bill.??
We all know that we must tackle the deficit, but we must protect growth, public services, and all of us caught in the middle enduring the most unfair of these cuts, too.??
Alan??
Dr Shibley Rahman is a research physician and research lawyer by training.
Queen’s Scholar, BA (1st.), MA, MB, BChir, PhD, MRCP(UK), LLB(Hons.), FRSA
Director of Law and Medicine Limited
Member of the Fabian Society and Associate of the Institute of Directors
Prize competition – spot the mistakes in a blog post
Walaa Idris, in her popular blog, posted an article as advice for the blogger Darren Bridgeman.
Bad spelling and grammar are evident in all our blog posts. Walaa offered this really helpful advice:
My advice, as someone who knows how you feel, because I felt embarrassed whenever I misspelled words and made such obvious mistakes, but I found although some who correct me do it for their own self satisfaction, most truly care and just want to help me. Even though I continue to correct and pay extra attention to every word I type, still, I make many mistakes. Somehow I feel like the Ambassador of all the poor English speakers and writers and as such feel it is my duty to ask you to reconsider – so please rethink your decision.
Here is the text of a mythical blog post. There are at least 14 errors in it, identified in Simon Heffer’s “Strictly English” as common grammatical errors in the English language. It may be purchased from Amazon here.
Blog post by Troubleblogger
This week has been an extraordinary week in British politics. For example, one blogger has alleged that a Tory MP has left his wife for a woman, while she is fighting malignant melanoma.
Yesterday, there was a very interesting debate in the House of Commons on student finance. The excellent discussion demonstrated the problems of making policy in a Coalition government. The difficulties is probably compounded by the fact that Vince Cable is using data which is probably out-of-date. The thing is that none of the options for the future of student finance are credible.
Some of the options proposed to Lord Brown are inforgettable. To be fair, I would of thought that some of the options proposed would have seemed impressive to the Institute of Fiscal Studies. However, raising tuition fees is now a distinct possibility following the Browne Report. The problem is that Clegg said that he would not never go there.
In terms of feedback, the Labour Party must be feeling good. The concertos of criticism from Liberal Democrat voters were not nice to listen to. In a sense, it was if Miliband was trying to collapse a house of cards. Some commentators just got personal. For example, yesterday, some people, working for the Times especially, called Vince Cable ‘an ugly monster’, but this is perhaps tad unfair. I wonder what Andy Marr would have made of that?
It is difficult to know who came out of worst – Clegg or Cable. Some think it’s better if Cable had quitted his cabinet post, given his beliefs. Commentators wrote on Cable giving his speech whilst being transmitted on Sky.
There’ll be a debate on it: I don’t know if I’ll go. Under the circumstances, it should be interesting, don’t you think?
You can download the text of the blog post Blog poste.
Have a go at spotting the mistakes in them. Feel free to email your entries to Dr Shibley Rahman, management@lawandmedicine.co.uk
The winning entry will get a copy of this book, Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging in the UK. with no expenses spared!
Alternatively, you can, again, buy it off Amazon UK.
Dr Shibley Rahman
Queen’s Scholar, BA (1st.), MA, MB, BChir, PhD, MRCP(UK), LLB(Hons.), FRSA
Director of Law and Medicine Limited
Member of the Fabian Society and Associate of the Institute of Directors
History repeating itself?
Sort of, except the Liberal Democrats haven’t been in so much trouble yet.
It will be interesting to see how chief political invertebrate will manage to worm itself out of this mess. Meanwhile, the blogosphere has hotted up. Offshore tycoon Guido Fawkes knows he’s on much firmer ground than his (much nobler) colleague Iain Dale. Firstly, it is now not considered defamatory to call somebody homosexual, therefore making a false statement about someone’s sexuality may not be an issue. Guido will be on rockier ground (or at least his server might) if he is accused of inciting his audience to homophobic remarks, however please note that it would be exceptionally hard to prove that Guido had intended to do this as part of his ‘mens rea’ in committing any offence under law.
I suspect the latter of these two stories will die. The first one will be hot at least until it happens, as the Twitter communication between @ollygrender and @gabyhinsliff alluded to earlier.
Somebody sharing a twin room in a busy campaigning schedule, is not particularly exciting, guys.
Nor is this..?
