A De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) student is working at a top law firm on a placement that will prepare her for life in the legal profession.
Law student Chloë Merralls is spending the year at Shoosmiths in Reading and she believes the opportunity will provide invaluable experience as she looks to forge a career in law.
DMU offers all Business and Law students the chance to take a placement year in industry before their final year of study to gain specific experience, develop their skills, learn more about their profession and build new contacts.
Third year student Chloë is hoping that her year spent at Shoosmiths will act as a great platform for her final year studying Law and beyond when she goes into full time employment.
She said: "It's going really well. I'm surprised with how well I have settled in here. I didn't expect my placement year to be like this and I have already learned so much. "
"I've been here for just over two months now, I'm an administrative assistant in Debt Recovery, so I communicate with our clients and their debtors."
"It's a really interesting insight, Shoosmiths are an award winning law firm, so to come here before even finishing University is such a great opportunity and I'm definitely really lucky to be here."
"There's a lot I can take from this year to apply to my final year. I've learned so much, from legal knowledge to general every day skills."
Law is a notoriously competitive environment and Chloë believes that having a year working at such a prestigious law firm will help her stand out from the crowd.
"Law is extremely competitive so I would definitely recommend for any law student to do a placement year because it gives you that something extra compared to everybody else and you're in a much better position after graduation."
"I definitely want to explore different areas of law, Debt Recovery is an area I never thought I would go into, but I am enjoying it a lot so I would be willing to give any area of law a try.
“I'm not going to close any doors at the moment and I'm open to trying many different areas of law to help me decide which I would want to specialise in, in the future."
DMUs placement team assist students all the way through their placement year, starting with working on their CV and providing mock interviews, and continuing with one-to-one support during and after their year in industry.
Chloë added: "The DMU placement team were so helpful throughout the whole time I was applying for placements, they were amazing. I wouldn't have this brilliant opportunity without their help. "
"I went to an open day before I had even applied to DMU and they mentioned placements then. I knew from day one that a placement year was something that I wanted to do, and I did it!"
Posted on Tuesday 28 November 2017